Legislation to Ban LGBT Discrimination in Ohio Introduced

Today at 10:30 a.m. in the Ohio Statehouse, term-limited State Rep. Jon Peterson (R-Delaware), State Rep. Dan Stewart (D-Columbus), and State Sen. Dale Miller (D-Columbus) will announce the introduction of new legislation to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The protection will extend to housing, employment, and public accommodations (such as restaurants). Lynne Bowman, Equality Ohio Executive Director, and Jimmie Beall, who lost school job when discovered she was a lesbian, will also attend.

Hallelujah. It's about time we drag Ohio into the 21st century.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, twenty states and the District of Columbia prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, including California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and New York. Ohio competes with those states as a destination for businesses and for desirable employees. More than 460 of the Fortune 500 companies and more than 2,600 private companies, colleges and universities, nonprofits and unions in the United States have adopted anti-discrimination policies that cover sexual orientation, and a 2006 Gallup poll found that 85% of Americans oppose workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.

UPDATE: Here is more, from the press release:

“Fairness and equality are not Democratic or Republican issues; they are human issues that speak to the very essence of what it means to live in America,” Rep. Stewart said. “We know discrimination is ugly, but it still runs far too rampant against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. We need to embrace them, not reject them.”

Rep. Stewart points to a recently-completed census by The United Way of Central Ohio, which showed that 52 percent self-reported that they have experienced discrimination because of their sexual orientation – more than half of that in the last three years alone.

The advocacy group Equality Ohio also cites a November 2006 survey that finds 66 percent of those surveyed support a law making it illegal to fire or deny housing to any Ohioan because he or she is gay.

“Ohio is in a period of transition and transformation,” Rep. Peterson said. “The Ohio of tomorrow must welcome all persons and provide opportunities for all persons to succeed based on their character and ability, not their sexual orientation. This legislation represents a meaningful and significant step forward in ending discrimination which frustrates that objective.”