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Gender Identity Ordinance Is Put To Ft. Wayne City Council

By Jeff Neumeyer
June 18, 2010 Updated Feb 9, 2010 at 5:18 PM EST FORT WAYNE, IN (Indiana's NewsCenter) --- One Fort Wayne city council member wants to expand the city's human rights ordinance to ensure transgender individuals would be guaranteed the right to fair housing and employment protections. A counterpart on council says he will try to stop the ordinance change before it even gets debated. Democrat Mayor Tom Henry was a city councilman in 2002 when he was able to push through discrimination protections for Fort Wayne workers who are gays or lesbians. Democrat 2nd District Councilwoman Karen Goldner is now proposing that the same kinds of protections based on sexual orientation be extended to people who identify with a gender other than the one they were born as, or who don't conform to traditional gender roles. Passage would permit employees who fit that definition to take complaints to the city's Metro Human Relations Commission. She admits it's an ordinance provision that would be seldom used, but she says it's still the right thing to do. Karen Goldner/(D) Fort Wayne Council 2nd District: " Over a hundred cities and counties in a dozen states in America, that represent 39 percent of the U.S. population, have gender identity as a protected class." Tom Smith/(R) Fort Wayne Council 1st District: " I don't think it's necessary, because it's not a common problem that we agree to, and it can't be enforced, so I think it would be quite frankly, not the best use of our time and energy to go into some long discussion about a bill that doesn't have a future." Smith planned to ask for a roll call vote, and if the ordinance proposal failed to get majority support, it would be defeated on the spot. Otherwise, the proposal would advance on a set schedule with debate and a vote expected in three weeks.
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