The Montevallo City Council on Monday
approved an ordinance that protects the LGBT community from
discrimination.
According to the Human Rights Campaign
(HRC), the nation's largest LGBT rights advocate, Montevallo will
become the second city in Alabama to approve such an ordinance.
Birmingham
became the first city in the state last year.
“Today, Montevallo’s elected
leaders have sent a strong message that they will support their LGBTQ
constituents – not just with words, but also with policy,” said
Eva Kendrick, HRC Alabama state director. “Now that Montevallo has
joined Birmingham in passing a comprehensive LGBTQ-inclusive
non-discrimination ordinance, it is time for other cities in Alabama
to follow these communities’ lead in protecting all people from
bias and discrimination.”
The ordinance prohibits discrimination
in housing, public accommodations and employment on the basis of
sexual orientation and gender identity.
At a forum in September to discuss the
proposed ordinance, a father of a gay adolescent son spoke in
support. “This says something as a community,” he
said. “Passing this ordinance would make the whole family [of
an LGBT] child feel safer.”
A pastor said he opposed it because it
might be used to undermine religious freedom.
Montevallo, home of the University of
Montevallo, a public liberal arts university with roughly 3,000
students, has a population of 6,323, according to the 2010 census.
According to HRC, Alabama is among the
31 states without comprehensive LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination
protections.