Charlottesville City Council unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday to extend the anti-discrimination policies of state employees to better prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation.\nCouncil member David Brown said the resolution was brought forth by local representatives of the gay rights advocate group Equality Virginia.
Local resident Edward Strickler noted that many members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community are discriminated against in the workplace. He said 16 to 68 percent of people in the LGBTQ community have reported experiencing discrimination, and 12 to 30 percent of heterosexual people in the workplace have reported witnessing such discrimination. Furthermore, he said gay men earn 10 to 30 percent less on average than equally qualified heterosexual men.
"These issues affect real people," he said.
Though the resolution obviously will not end all discriminatory practices, Brown said it is important, nevertheless, because it shows the community's support for all of its citizens and puts in writing that backing.
"It shows ... that we are aware of their problems and issues and we're doing what we can to help them," he said.
Brown said the resolution will be included in a legislation packet of bills that the City of Charlottesville proposes to the Virginia General Assembly this year. The packet will be sent to Del. David Toscano, D-Charlottesville, who has spearheaded similar legislature to end discriminatory practices based on sexual preference within the state government before.
Brown noted that Council passed a similar resolution last year.
"This is not a new idea," he said.
Toscano said he has previously co-sponsored a bill in the Virginia General Assembly in accordance with Council's resolution, but the bill eventually went unsupported in later hearings.
"It was killed in a sub-committee in the House of Delegates," he said.
Despite this setback, Toscano said he plans to continue to work at the state level to end discrimination against the LGBTQ community.
"We ought not to discriminate on employment on the basis of sexual preference, racial issues, gender, disability," he said. "People ought to be judged by their ability to do a job and not on the basis of other factors that are not related to the task"
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