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US: The Advocate Offers new Interactive Equality Guide to Employment Protections

Thursday, September 15th, 2011

Use this map to find out if your state offers protections against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. While there’s no federal law against firing a person for being LGBT, 21 states and Washington, D.C., prohibit sexual orientation discrimination, while 15 of these, plus D.C., also cover gender identity.

If you unfortunately work for a hostile employer and live in a place that leaves you vulnerable to discrimination, there’s still some legal recourse. Kate Kendell, executive director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, says, “Even though there’s no employment nondiscrimination law based on sexual orientation or gender identity, Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964] has been found through past cases to prohibit discrimination that is grounded in gender stereotypes, for example, a woman who is not sufficiently feminine.”

Full Story from The Advocate

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Tags: discrimination, employment, protection, united states

TX: Legislators to Consider Anti Work Discrimination Ordinance

Friday, January 14th, 2011

Texas employers would no longer be able to discriminate against employees based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to a bill filed by state Rep. Mike Villarreal (D-San Antonio). No federal law is in place to protect gay and transgender employees, though as of July 2009, 21 states have nondiscrimination laws, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

“In effect any employer in Texas who learns about an employee’s sexual orientation can basically say, ‘Pack your bags. You’re out of here.’ Just on that fact. And there’s no recourse for that employee,” said former state legislator and gay rights activist Glen Maxey.

Maxey, who founded the LGBT rights group now known as Equality Texas, did not think Villarreal’s bill has much of a chance of becoming law, even though many major private companies already have anti-discrimination policies in place for gay and transgender employees.

Full Story from the American Independent

Click here for gay marriage resources in Texas.

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Tags: anti discrimination, bill, employment, texas

FL: Jacksonville May Consider Anti Discrimination Ordinance

Sunday, October 31st, 2010

Jacksonville gay rights activists are meeting with business leaders to get their support for a measure that would ban discrimination based on sexual preference. Jacksonville is the state’s only major metropolitan area that doesn’t ban discrimination against gay people.

The city’s current ordinance prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations on the basis of race, religion, disability, sex, marital status, national origin, color and age. Proponents say the measure would help the local economy.

If the measure goes before Jacksonville’s commission, opposition would be expected from religious groups and social conservatives. They would see the change as an affront to traditional moral values.

[End of Article]

Full Story from the Miami Herald

Click here for gay marriage resources in Florida.

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Tags: anti discrimination, employment, fl, florida, gay rights, jacksonville, ordinance

IN: South Bend City Council Rejects Gay Employment Protections on 6-3 Vote

Friday, October 29th, 2010

By a 6-3 vote, the city council of South Bend, Indiana has voted to continue to allow local businesses to fire people for being gay.

Explaining his opposition to the proposal, council President Derek Dieter, D-District 1, said afterward, “I just don’t think it’s needed in South Bend.” Dieter said he had not seen any documentation proving workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people exists, “and I think it (the proposal) would cause more harm than good to small businesses.”

For his part, Patrick Mangan, executive director of the conservative group Citizens for Community Values, praised Dieter and other opponents of the proposal, who he said “stood up to a lot of pressure behind the scenes. I’m pleased the council did the right thing in lovingly opposing special rights for homosexuals,” he said, adding, “And I renew the offer to all those struggling with same-sex attraction to come to freedom and come to wholeness.”

Full Story from Joe.My.God

Click here for gay marriage resources in Indiana.

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Tags: city council, discrimination, employment, in, indiana, south bend

Philippines: New President Supports Gay Rights, But Not Gay Marriage

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

With his penchant for badly fitting shirts, dorky hair style, and complete lack of personal charisma, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino appears the most unlikely person to win an election by a landslide. But with most of the votes counted, Mr Vanilla of Manila has galloped into Malacanang Palace, the official residence of the President of the Philippines.

There were nine presidential contenders in this week’s general election and Noynoy seized close to 40% of the vote. In a country with over 7000 far flung islands, the call usually takes days, sometimes weeks, but with a new electronic voting system and such a handsome lead, it was clear 16 hours after the polls closed that Aquino was the winner.

…

Mr. Aquino says he will acknowledge the rights of homosexuals, another issue which will have him in conflict with the church. “Gays shouldn’t be discriminated against in terms of occupation and other aspects,” he has said, although he is “not prepared to support gay marriage.”

Full Story from the Huffington Post

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Tags: employment, Gay Marriage, gay rigths, marriage equality, philippines, president benigno aquino, same sex marriage

FL: Leon County Considering Gay Anti Discrimination Ordinance

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Lisa Comingore, an assistant attorney general for the state of Florida, knows what it’s like to be forced out of a job over sexual orientation. Comingore, 39, took a job as a staff attorney with a state agency Nov. 1, 2006, and by the following February, she’d put in her notice. She’d been told that if she didn’t, she;d be fired.

The reason why, she says, had nothing to do with job performance – a supervisor wanted her out because she’s a lesbian. Comingore, a Tallahassee resident who was recovering from breast cancer, decided to leave on her own. She knew if she was fired, she’d have a hard time landing another state job and keeping her health insurance. “It just felt extremely unfair,” Comingore said. “Just being discriminated against and having no recourse – it’s very demoralizing.”

Currently, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community aren’t protected from workplace discrimination in local, state or federal law. They also aren’t protected from housing discrimination in state or federal law. The county’s housing code has a protection for gays and lesbians, but LGBT advocates say it has no enforcement mechanism and is ineffective.

Full Story from Tallahassee.com

Click here for gay marriage resources in Florida.

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Tags: anti discrimination, employment, fl, florida, gay rights, housing, Leon County, lesbian rights, ordinance

OH: Gay Protections Bill Stalled in State Senate

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

Gay advocates in Ohio remain optimistic that a stalled gay protections bill approved last fall by the House remains viable. Representative Dan Stewart’s measure would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity (transgender protections) in the areas of employment, public accommodations and credit.

In September, five Republican lawmakers crossed the aisle to join all Democrats in attendance in voting in favor of the bill on a 56 to 38 vote. Five Democratic lawmakers did not attend the session. The bill then headed into the Republican-controlled Senate with an uncertain future.

Kim Welter, director of Programs and Outreach at Equality Ohio, the state’s largest gay advocate, told On Top Magazine that Senate President Bill M. Harris, an Ashland Republican who has publicly questioned whether the bill’s protections are needed, remains the measure’s largest obstacle. Harris, Welter explained, has yet to assign the bill to a committee seven months after the House approved the measure.

Full Story from On Top Magazine

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Tags: employment, gay rights, housing, lesbian, ohio, protections, senate, transgender