As many BOR readers may have noticed, I was out of state for 3 weeks last month working in Kalamazoo, Michigan on a ballot initiative where voters were asked to asked to affirm a prior city commission non-discrimination ordinance which would have expanded basic job, housing, and public accommodation protections to citizens based on sexual orientation and gender identity. I returned home from that successful effort last weekend to further good news in that the Fort Worth City Council voted 6-3 on a measure to expand a similar set of city protections to include gender identity.
Fort Worth Star Telegram: The vote dealt only with one facet of the proposals: expanding the city's anti-discrimination ordinance to include transgender people. The ordinance already prevented discrimination based on race, sex, religion or sexual orientation.
A lot of the debate, though, centered on broader proposals, some of which the council has already tacitly approved. City staffers will be trained on dealing with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and the Police Department has appointed a liaison to the community.
Other recommendations will require further study, including offering domestic-partner benefits and expanding the city health insurance plan to cover gender reassignment procedures, including sex changes.
The vote itself included organizing by both the gay community and counter-protestors. The view below from the Dallas Voice highlights the nature of the debate outside of the council. The most interesting parts are closer to the end when the pastor of a 80 member congregation gets interviewed about his more interesting thoughts on "victims, sissies and sodomites" before getting questioned about whether his congregation meets in a double-wide trailer.
