FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The first reading of a City Council bill adding sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories in the City’s non-discrimination ordinance, will take place Monday, Sept. 8. The meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at Historic City Hall. Citizens wishing to speak on behalf of the bill may call the City Clerk’s office at 864-1443. The sign-up period to speak will continue until the title of bill is read at the meeting Monday evening. Remarks will be limited to three minutes each, per direction from Mayor Bob Stephens. According to City Code: Chapter 2-42, remarks must be limited to the bill itself. Mayor Stephens said he will ask anyone straying from the content of the bill to return back to the content. Those not complying may asked to conclude their comments. The Mayor said he is expecting a large crowd. A few hundred attended the last City Council meeting which addressed this issue in 2012. The issue was referred to a Citizen Task Force, whose members made recommendations to Council’s Community Involvement Committee last month. A bill and a substitute bill are on the agenda: 2014-189: A general ordinance amending Chapter 2, Administration, Article IV, Boards, Commissions and Committees, Division 4, Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations, Section 2-223; and Chapter 62, Human Rights, to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of categories of persons protected from discrimination, to consolidate the Commission’s investigative process into a single division of the Code, and to clarify the Commission’s powers in light of recent court decisions.
2014-189 Sub. 1. A general ordinance amending Chapter 2, Administration, Article IV, Boards, Commissions and Committees, Division 4, Mayor’s Commission on Human Rights and Community Relations, section 2-223; and Chapter 62, Human Rights, to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of categories of persons protected from discrimination in the area of housing, to consolidate the Commission’s investigative process into a single division of the Code, and to clarify the Commission’s powers in light of recent court decisions, and requesting additional study pertaining to discrimination in the areas of employment and public accommodation.
# # # For more information, contact: Cora Scott, Director of Public Information & Civic Engagement, 417-864-1009 (office) | 417-380-3352 (cell), [email protected]