Add another Florida metropolis to the list of cities protecting the civil rights of their transgender residents. The Tampa City Council this morning voted unanimously to expand its human rights ordinance to protect transgender people from discrimination.
The vote extends laws prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation, sex, race and religion to include 'gender identity or expression' as a protected class.
Tampa's Human Rights Board has been discussing the issue for the past year and has requested the changes. Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and several council members supported it.
Tampa joins 16 Florida municipalities, at least 13 states across the country and several Fortune 500 companies who have extended such protections to transsexuals and others with a gender identity that differs from their birth gender.
It remains to be seen if the haters try to come after this law in the wake of back to back lopsided losses in Gainesville, FL and Kalamazoo, MI.
