Politics
Politics

Proposal would ban job discrimination against gay, transgender state employees

By April Hunt
March 30, 2011

The Georgia House’s first openly gay lawmaker on Wednesday proposed job protections for gay and transgender state employees.

Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates, has 70 co-sponsors on House Bill 630, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. A dozen of them are Republicans.

“A lot of Fortune 100 and 500 companies in Georgia offer these kinds of protections for a reason,” Drenner said. “It’s good business.”

The policy could have helped the state avoid a three-year legal battle with former General Assembly legislative editor Vandy Beth Glenn.

Glenn, hired as a man in 2005, was fired about two years later when she informed her supervisor she would not hide her gender identity. She won a federal discrimination lawsuit last year.

The bill was introduced too far into the current session to move this year, but it will remain a viable bill through next year’s session.

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