|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
||||||
|
Search:
|
Tampa Passes Ordinance to Prevent Discrimination against Transgender People
Posted: December 16, 2009
Page Tools:
For More Information Contact:
Related Practice Areas:
The City of Tampa’s city council has voted 5 to 1 to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on “gender identity and expression.” While Tampa’s human rights ordinance already prevents discrimination based on gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and other factors, the Florida city’s new ordinance protects those against discrimination with an “inner sense of being a specific gender” regardless of their “assigned sex at birth.” Tampa’s ordinance applies to employers, employment agencies, labor organizations and other organizations throughout the city and makes it illegal to fire, refuse to hire or decline to sell or rent someone a home based on his or her gender identity. The city’s Human Rights Board, which had been discussing the issue for the past year, requested the changes. The provisions relating to sexual orientation and gender identity do not apply to religious organizations. Supporters of the ordinance argued that it is good business policy toward transgender individuals who face discrimination on a daily basis, while opponents called the move an assault on their religious values. Tampa joins more than a dozen Florida municipalities, as well as 13 states across the country and several Fortune 500 companies that have extended similar protections to transsexuals, transvestites and others with a gender identity that differs from their sex at birth. At the federal level, President Barack Obama’s administration is drafting proposed federal guidelines that would prohibit workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees. Jackson Lewis attorneys are available to discuss this ordinance and other Florida workplace laws.
| |||||||
