The chairman of a key Georgia House committee has introduced legislation that would prohibit discrimination against public employees based on their sexual orientation and ban discrimination in public accommodations.
Rep. Rich Golick, who chairs the House Judiciary Non-Civil Committee, said he wants the Legislature to take up the measures during next year's General Assembly.
The legislation banning discrimination in state government would expand protections under the Fair Employment Practices Act of 1978. As of now, the act prohibits discrimination based on a person’s race, religion, national origin, gender and disability.
If passed, Golick’s legislation would create a new provision that bans state officials from discriminating against gays and lesbians because of their sexual orientation.
"Corporate America has led on this particular issue for a while, and the state of Georgia would do well to follow that example," the Smyrna Republican said.
Earlier this month, an Atlanta appeals court ruled that federal law does not prohibit employers from discriminating against workers because they are lesbian or gay. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals noted that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not specifically list sexual orientation as a protected class. The court ruled against Jameka Evans, who claimed she lost her job because she's a lesbian.
Greg Nevins, a Lambda Legal lawyer who represents Evans, applauded Golick’s legislation involving state employees. “Any enactment of explicit employment protections is a good thing,” he said.
Separately, Golick introduced a bill that would ban businesses from turning away customers based on their race, color, religion or national origin. This would apply to hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues and other service industries.
Golick, who introduced this legislation a year ago, said Georgia is one of only a handful of states nationwide that does not have such a civil rights law.
“That needs to change, especially since it’s been over 50 years since the federal Civil Rights Act was enacted,” he said. “Beyond simply being the right thing to do, it is only a brief matter of time before this becomes an economic development issue for our state as we compete with other states for large-scale events, as well as corporate relocations that create jobs.”
The public accommodations legislation does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation because the bill seeks to mirror federal law, which also does not have such an exception, Golick said.
“While I personally reject discrimination against anyone, I thought it would be prudent to stay as close as possible to existing federal law or policy, and then the General Assembly could expand from there if it saw fit to do so,” he said.
Golick said his hope is for a committee to hold hearings in the coming months “in preparation for action as soon as possible next session.”
