The city of Fort Worth, Texas is
considering an ordinance that would ban discrimination based on
gender identity, gay weekly the Dallas
Voice reported.
The city's Human Relations Commission
voted July 28 to amend the city's anti-discrimination policy to
include transgender protections. All eleven members voted in favor
of the recommendation.
The commission's recommendation must
now be approved by the city's Diversity Task Force before City
Council will consider the measure.
If passed, the ordinance would prohibit
discrimination against transgender people in the areas of employment,
housing, and places of public accommodation.
The move has been under consideration
for nearly a year, Lisa Thomas, a Human Rights Commission member,
told the paper: “The commission has been working on this issue
since before I joined more than a year ago.”
“At our March meeting, members of the
transgender community spoke to the commission, telling the
commissioners about their lives and the issues and discrimination
they encounter trying to live their lives,” Thomas said.
“Those citizen presentations were
informative and very moving,” she added.