Language Proposed to Eliminate Discrimination in FL. Against Gays and Lesbians In Employment and Housing
From Rand Hoch, President and Founder
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
March 5, 2007
Dear Fair Minded Friend and members of Freedom Democrats of Miami Dade:
The Legislature Session is about to begin and for the first time in more than a decade, there is a chance that the Florida Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act can me amended to prohibit discrimination against lesbians and gay men in employment, housing and public accommodations.
House Bill 639 is sponsored by Representative Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) and Co-Sponsored (so far) by Representatives Mary Brandenburg (D-West Palm Beach) , Susan Bucher (D-West Palm Beach), Keith Fitzgerald (D-Sarasota),Ari Porth (D-Coral Springs), Scott Randolph (D-Orlando), Priscilla Taylor (D-West Palm Beach) and Shelley Vana (D-West Palm Beach).
IF YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE IS NOT YET A CO-SPONSOR, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY.
For a link to the House Web Page for the bill, which includes a list of current sponsors as well as a link to the complete text of the bill, please go to:
www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=35242
The companion bill in the Senate, S 2628, was introduced by Senator Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton). The bill number was just assigned, so there are no Co-Introducers so far.
For a link to the Senate Web Page for the bill, please go to:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Year=2007&BillNum=2628
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR AND ASK HIM OR HER TO SIGN ON AS A CO-INTRODUCER TODAY.
For your convenience, "talking points" are included below.
Thank you.
Rand Hoch, President and Founder
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
SPECIAL NOTE: Neither HB 639 nor S 2628 includes "gender expression" or "gender identity". Supportive Legislators have repeatedly told PBCHRC that our best chance for progress on civil rights would be to first get "sexual orientation" included. PBCHRC has deferred to their legislative expertise.
________________________________________
The following is OPINION: From Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
TALKING POINTS:
ON H.B. 639 and S. 2628, BILLS TO AMEND THE FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1992 AND THE FLORIDA FAIR HOUSING ACT TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
“Lesbians and gay people are a permanent part of the American workforce, who currently have no protection from the arbitrary abuse of their rights on the job. For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law.”
-- Coretta Scott King
“Enumeration is the essential device used to make the duty not to discriminate concrete and to provide guidance for those who must comply.”
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the Court in Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996)
- - - - - - -
The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination only because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.
The Florida Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing and public accommodation based on race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, familial status, or religion.
Neither law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"Sexual orientation" is defined as "the condition of being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual".
H,B. 639 and S. 2628 would add "sexual orientation" to the list of protected classes in Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 and the Florida Fair Housing Act. The bill will also replace the term "handicap" with "disability". Additionally, the bill would add "marital status" into the Fair Housing Act and "familial status" into the Civil Rights Act, so that both laws cover the same protected classes.
"Familial status" refers to a family consisting of a child under 18 living with: (1) a parent, (2) an adult having legal custody of the child, or (3) a person designated in writing by the parent or legal custodian.
Since Federal law allows "adult only" communities for residents 55 years or older, the Florida Fair Housing Act does not include "age" as a protected class.
Many disabled individuals feel that stigma attaches to the word "handicap". They do not wish to be perceived as individuals, caps in hand, begging.
Polling data for the past thirty years has consistently shown that Americans overwhelmingly support legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment and housing based on sexual orientation.
In May 2006, the Gallup organization asked 1,002 randomly selected adults aged 18 and above whether homosexuals should have "equal rights in terms of job opportunities." 89 percent of Americans favored equal employment rights. Only 9 percent disagreed.
In theory, civil rights laws should provide the same protections regardless of where one lives in the United States. Unfortunately, we do not live in a theoretical world.
Federal legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation has never been a real priority of the leadership of either the U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives. Nor has it ever been a Presidential priority.
Seventeen states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Both houses of the Colorado Legislature passed a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in 2006; however, it was vetoed by then-Governor Bill Owens. Colorado's new Governor, Bill Ritter, is expected to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
430 of the Fortune 500 companies have written policies prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment and/or housing are in effect in Broward, Leon, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties, as well as in the cities of Gulfport, Gainesville, Key West, Lake Worth, Miami Beach, Orlando, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Wilton Manors.
For further information contact:
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council
President and Founder Rand Hoch
At(561) 804-9399 (home/office) or 358-0105 (cell)
or the Council's lobbyist in Tallahassee Todd Parrish, who can be reached at (407) 761-8906.
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
March 5, 2007
Dear Fair Minded Friend and members of Freedom Democrats of Miami Dade:
The Legislature Session is about to begin and for the first time in more than a decade, there is a chance that the Florida Civil Rights Act and Fair Housing Act can me amended to prohibit discrimination against lesbians and gay men in employment, housing and public accommodations.
House Bill 639 is sponsored by Representative Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) and Co-Sponsored (so far) by Representatives Mary Brandenburg (D-West Palm Beach) , Susan Bucher (D-West Palm Beach), Keith Fitzgerald (D-Sarasota),Ari Porth (D-Coral Springs), Scott Randolph (D-Orlando), Priscilla Taylor (D-West Palm Beach) and Shelley Vana (D-West Palm Beach).
IF YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE IS NOT YET A CO-SPONSOR, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR TODAY.
For a link to the House Web Page for the bill, which includes a list of current sponsors as well as a link to the complete text of the bill, please go to:
www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=35242
The companion bill in the Senate, S 2628, was introduced by Senator Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton). The bill number was just assigned, so there are no Co-Introducers so far.
For a link to the Senate Web Page for the bill, please go to:
http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/index.cfm?Mode=Bills&SubMenu=1&BI_Mode=ViewBillInfo&Year=2007&BillNum=2628
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR STATE SENATOR AND ASK HIM OR HER TO SIGN ON AS A CO-INTRODUCER TODAY.
For your convenience, "talking points" are included below.
Thank you.
Rand Hoch, President and Founder
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
SPECIAL NOTE: Neither HB 639 nor S 2628 includes "gender expression" or "gender identity". Supportive Legislators have repeatedly told PBCHRC that our best chance for progress on civil rights would be to first get "sexual orientation" included. PBCHRC has deferred to their legislative expertise.
________________________________________
The following is OPINION: From Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Inc.
TALKING POINTS:
ON H.B. 639 and S. 2628, BILLS TO AMEND THE FLORIDA CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1992 AND THE FLORIDA FAIR HOUSING ACT TO PROHIBIT DISCRIMINATION BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION IN EMPLOYMENT, HOUSING AND PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
“Lesbians and gay people are a permanent part of the American workforce, who currently have no protection from the arbitrary abuse of their rights on the job. For too long, our nation has tolerated the insidious form of discrimination against this group of Americans, who have worked as hard as any group, paid their taxes like everyone else, and yet have been denied equal protection under the law.”
-- Coretta Scott King
“Enumeration is the essential device used to make the duty not to discriminate concrete and to provide guidance for those who must comply.”
-- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the Court in Romer v. Evans, 517 U.S. 620 (1996)
- - - - - - -
The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination only because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status.
The Florida Fair Housing Act prohibits discrimination in housing and public accommodation based on race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, familial status, or religion.
Neither law prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
"Sexual orientation" is defined as "the condition of being heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual".
H,B. 639 and S. 2628 would add "sexual orientation" to the list of protected classes in Florida Civil Rights Act of 1992 and the Florida Fair Housing Act. The bill will also replace the term "handicap" with "disability". Additionally, the bill would add "marital status" into the Fair Housing Act and "familial status" into the Civil Rights Act, so that both laws cover the same protected classes.
"Familial status" refers to a family consisting of a child under 18 living with: (1) a parent, (2) an adult having legal custody of the child, or (3) a person designated in writing by the parent or legal custodian.
Since Federal law allows "adult only" communities for residents 55 years or older, the Florida Fair Housing Act does not include "age" as a protected class.
Many disabled individuals feel that stigma attaches to the word "handicap". They do not wish to be perceived as individuals, caps in hand, begging.
Polling data for the past thirty years has consistently shown that Americans overwhelmingly support legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment and housing based on sexual orientation.
In May 2006, the Gallup organization asked 1,002 randomly selected adults aged 18 and above whether homosexuals should have "equal rights in terms of job opportunities." 89 percent of Americans favored equal employment rights. Only 9 percent disagreed.
In theory, civil rights laws should provide the same protections regardless of where one lives in the United States. Unfortunately, we do not live in a theoretical world.
Federal legislation to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation has never been a real priority of the leadership of either the U.S. Senate or U.S. House of Representatives. Nor has it ever been a Presidential priority.
Seventeen states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin) and the District of Columbia have enacted laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Both houses of the Colorado Legislature passed a bill prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in 2006; however, it was vetoed by then-Governor Bill Owens. Colorado's new Governor, Bill Ritter, is expected to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.
430 of the Fortune 500 companies have written policies prohibiting workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment and/or housing are in effect in Broward, Leon, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties, as well as in the cities of Gulfport, Gainesville, Key West, Lake Worth, Miami Beach, Orlando, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tampa, West Palm Beach and Wilton Manors.
For further information contact:
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council
President and Founder Rand Hoch
At(561) 804-9399 (home/office) or 358-0105 (cell)
or the Council's lobbyist in Tallahassee Todd Parrish, who can be reached at (407) 761-8906.
