Village of Wellington Extends Domestic Partnership Benefits

The Wellington Village Council has completed a comprehensive policy revision to include registered domestic partners of Village employees as family members.

The action was taken at the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which has been working with the Village on domestic partnership issues for the past year. The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has been the leading advocate for domestic partner benefits in Florida since 1992, when the City of West Palm Beach became Florida's first public employer to provide domestic partnership benefits.

Domestic partners of Village employees and their children are now eligible for the same health, dental, vision and supplemental dependent life insurance coverage as employees' spouses and their children. In addition, Village employees may now take extended medical leave to care for their domestic partners and may utilize bereavement leave to grieve for an employee's domestic partner, as well as the partner's children, parents, siblings and grandparents.

"When we met with Wellington Mayor Darell Bowen at last year's gay polo tournament, the mayor emphasized the importance of developing a very inclusive domestic partnership policy," said Rand Hoch, President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Human Rights Council. "As a result, Village Manager Paul Schofield and his staff developed a pro-family domestic partnership policy which is possibly the most inclusive in Florida."

Each year, the Village of Wellington plays host to the Gay Polo League's international tournament. This year's tournament will be held on Saturday, April 14 at Wellington's Grand Champions Polo Club.

"The Gay Polo League facilitated the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council's efforts to urge the Village to extend domestic partnership benefits," said Hoch. "Last year, the Gay Polo League was instrumental in having Wellington include both 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity or expression' in the Village's nondiscrimination policies."

Wellington is recognized as the winter equestrian capital of the world and in 2010 was named one of the "Top 100 Best Places to Live" by Money Magazine.

More public employers in Palm Beach County provide domestic partnership benefits than in any of Florida's other sixty-six counties.

In Palm Beach County, public employers that provide domestic partnership health insurance and other benefits include Palm Beach County, the School District of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach State College, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, the Office of the Clerk and Comptroller, the Office of the Tax Collector, the Office of the Property Appraiser, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, the Port of Palm Beach, the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Tran, Palm Beach County Children's Services Council, the Palm Beach County Health Care District, Seacoast Utility Authority, as well as the cities of Delray Beach, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach, and the Town of Jupiter.

"Hopefully other public employers in Florida will soon follow Wellington's lead," said Hoch.

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council: President's Message - July, 2011

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama repeatedly said "everyone should get a seat at the table, but no one should be able to buy up all the seats."

Last week the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council got our seat at the table, through an invitation to participate the Florida Community Leaders Briefing at the White House. I must admit, it felt pretty good.

When the invitation to the White House was extended last month, I asked if we were being invited to the President’s annual Gay Pride Reception on June 29. I was told that while the reception is a social event, the Community Leaders Briefing was a working meeting.

The briefing was in keeping with a pledge made by the President in his Inaugural Address, when he told America that his “commitment to openness means more than simply informing the American people about how decisions are made. It means recognizing that government does not have all the answers, and that public officials need to draw on what citizens know."

At the President’s request, the White House Office of Public Engagement identified 150 activists representing a variety of local constituencies throughout Florida. We were being invited not only to be briefed by senior administration officials on a variety of national issues, but also to let administration officials know what we were doing on the local level.

The night before the Community Leaders Briefing, our favorite Congressman – Ted Deutch – co-hosted a reception for us at the U.S. Capital along with Congresswoman (and Democratic National Committee Chair) Debbie Wasserman Schultz. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson came by to say a few words.

Looking around the room, I saw Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Latinos, Asians and Carribean Islanders. (If there was a Native American there, I missed her). I met people from South Florida, the Panhandle, Tampa Bay, Central Florida, Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Gainesville and Tallahassee. There were teachers, students, lawyers, union members and health care workers. Talking to people that night, I learned we were advocates for children, seniors, working people, the unemployed, retirees, people with disabilities, immigrants, the LGBT community, women and men. Our group was a virtual cross section of Floridians – and we were all working hard to improve life for our constituents.

At the reception I spent time catching up with other LGBT activists including Joe Falk, Chairman of SaveDade (www.savedade.org) and Alan Clendenin, a National Democratic Committeeman and the Hillsborough County State Democratic Committeeman.

The White House Office of Public Engagement easily filled our day for the Community Leaders Briefing. Throughout the day there were briefings from administration officials from the Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Education, the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Council on Environmental Quality, the Small Business Administration and NASA.

I was particularly looking forward to hearing from Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President. The President had been spending day after day with Congressional leaders working on the debt ceiling negotiations, and I was curious to learn from an insider how things were going.

Unfortunately, she only spoke for a few minutes. Fortunately, she kept her comments very brief so she could introduce “a very special guest” – President Obama.

Needless to say, our group rose to our feet, applauded, and cheered. Frankly, I thought the President probably needed a break from the budget negotiations, and he started his talk by letting us know just how happy he was to take that break.

While he only spent five to ten minutes with us, he spent the bulk of the time thanking us for our activism and our dedication to the people we work for. He strongly encouraged us to keep engaged with the White House.

To see what the Obama Administration is working on for the LGBT community, please check out: www.whitehouse.gov/lgbt.

Back at home, there was a great decision from the Circuit Court which confirmed what the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has been telling public employers in Palm Beach County for many years: the County’s Equal Employment Ordinance (which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression) has jurisdiction over all public employers in Palm Breach County with fifteen or more employees – except for the City of West Palm Beach. (West Palm Beach has its own Equal Employment Ordinance which includes sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression)

Over the years, the School District, Florida Atlantic University, some of our constitutional officers and some municipalities have claimed they were exempt from the County ordinance. With the Circuit Court ruling, they no longer can effectively claim this defense!

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council continues our work on family issues, particularly our effrots to ensure that gay and lesbian employees in domestic partnerships have the same rights to use family and medical leave as non-gay married employees.

As reported previously, so far this year, the City of West Palm Beach, the Office of the State Attorney and the Office of the Public Defender have all updated their family and medical leave policies to include employees with domestic partners. (The County’s Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector and Property Appraiser have provided this benefit to their lesbian and gay employees for several years).

In early May, the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously to update the County's Family and Medical Leave Policy to include families based on domestic partnerships. Within days, both Sheriff Ric Bradshaw Clerk & Comptroller Sharon Bock informed the Council that they will do the same.

We continue to work with the Palm Beach County School Board and the Cities of Lake Worth and Delray Beach on family and medical leave and we are very optimistic that all three will update their policies in the near future.

Speaking of Lake Worth, congratulations go out to newly-elected Mayor Rachel Waterman, who was elected by a wide margin. Mayor Waterman was endorsed by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance.

The Council’s newest board member, Peter Cava, reports that Board of Trustees of Florida Atlantic University will vote in October on adding both ”sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the school’s non-discrimination policies. Peter is working with a strong coalition of professors, administrators, staff and students who have been working on this issue for well over a decade. It appears that the amendment has the support of FAU President M.J. Saunders. If all goes well the coalition will move forward with their longstanding campaign for domestic partnership benefits for FAU employees.

On the subject of domestic partnership benefits, Board Member W. Trent Steele continues to lead the Council's efforts to urge the Town of Palm Beach to provide domestic partnership benefits to Town employees. To read Trent’s recent Op-Ed piece in the Palm Beach Daily News, go to: www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/town-of-palm-beach-should-recognize-domestic-partners-1533924.html.

The Council also continues to work with the City of Palm Beach Gardens on adding “gender identity or expression” to the city’s non-discrimination policies.

Greenacres City Council Member Paula Bousquet contacted the Council concerning updating that City’s non-discrimination policies to include both ”sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”. PBCHRC Board Member Hutch Floyd will be working with her on this project.

PBCHRC Board Member Jessica Blackman continues her work with the Village of North Palm Beach, urging Village Council Members to adopt pro-LGBT policies for Village employees.

Kudos go out to Fort Lauderdale attorney Miriam Richter for her success in getting the Fort Lauderdale City Commission to finally take steps to move forward on domestic partner benefits. The Council was happy to help out with some of the research.

Our expansion into the social media has been a great success. Throughout the day, local, state, national and international news of interest to the LGBT community is posted on the Council's Facebook page (PBCHRC). According to Facebook, our postings are viewed more than 235,000 times per month! In addition, PBCHRC maintains a blog which can be viewed at pbchrc.blogspot.com.

Please help us extend our reach -- and help your Facebook friends keep up with LGBT news, etc. -- by going to the PBCHRC Facebook page and hitting the "Invite Friends" button on the right. This will help us out greatly.

As you can tell, there is a lot of work being done by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council – and there is even more that needs to be done.

As always, we will keep you informed of our progress.


Rand Hoch,
President and Founder

PALM BEACH COUNTY EXPANDS BENEFITS FOR NONTRADITIONAL FAMILIES

OUT IN AMERICA

(West Palm Beach, Florida) The Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners directed county staff this morning to update the County's Merit System Rules and Regulations to allow County employees with domestic partners to take the same family and medical leave granted to married employees under federal law.

County Commissioner Paulette Burdick, a longtime proponent of equal rights for the county's gay and lesbian community, proposed the change in response to a request by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

The Council has been the leading advocate in Florida for domestic partnership since 1992, when the City of West Palm Beach became the state's first public employer to provide basic domestic partnership benefits.

The existing county regulations are based on the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), which allows married employees to take up to 12 weeks unpaid, job-protected leave to care for spouses with medical issues.

"When it comes to so many aspects of the law, Congress refuses to enact laws recognizing that gay men and lesbians form families," said Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch. "And that is not going to change any time soon."

Since the federal law does not recognize nontraditional families, employees in domestic partnerships – including gay and lesbian employees – are limited to no more than 13 days pursuant to the county's sick leave policy.

"That's not fair," Hoch told the county commissioners. "It's hypocritical. It's discriminatory."

County Commissioners agreed, and unanimously voted to equalize the family and medical leave benefits.

"Palm Beach County government employs many gay and lesbian employees in committed family relationships. Unfortunately, the State of Florida and the federal government do not recognize these relationships," said Burdick. "Under the new county policy, all county employees will have the same family leave benefits. In Palm Beach County we will not tolerate discrimination."

According to county staff, 53 Palm Beach County employees have registered domestic partners.

Across Florida, 58 public employers – 17 of which are located in Palm Beach County – have policies offering domestic partnership benefits to their employees.

"Perhaps one day, the state of Florida and the federal government will end their discrimination against non-traditional families," said Hoch. "Until that day comes, it is incumbent upon county and municipal officials to take action to protect all families." [5/3/11]

http://outinwestpalmbeach.com/home/news.asp?articleID=34989&star=5#

PBCHRC Update - April 2011

With municipal elections finally behind us, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council is again focusing our efforts on encouraging local public officials to enact laws and policies beneficial to our county’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

The Council is proud of the relationships we have developed with both elected and appointed officials over the past 23 years. As a result of our work, public employers in Palm Beach County have enacted far more pro-LGBT ordinances and policies than currently exist anywhere else in the Sunshine State.

Our top priority for 2011 is to ensure that local public policy is changed so that all of the family benefits which are provided to non-gay employees are also provided to gay and lesbian employees. To move forward with this agenda, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council leaders have recently been spending a lot of time with public officials.

For years, PrideFest has given everyone in our community the opportunity to meet with LGBT supportive public officials – and this year was no exception.

• Cloud Lake Mayor Betty James, an open lesbian, proudly marched in the Gay Pride Parade.
  

• Outgoing West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel – Florida’s most prolific elected advocate for the LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities – spent one afternoon chatting with PrideFest attendees. Everyone was eager to thank Lois for her tireless support of Palm Beach County’s LGBT community for more than 25 years.
  

• Every member of the Lake Worth City Commission spent time at PrideFest – and Mayor Rene' Varela even brought his mother!

• Tax Collector – and former Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Board Member – Anne Gannon caught up with old friends – and made new ones – as she made her way around Bryant Park.

The Council greatly appreciates the effort put in at PrideFest by Council Board Members Hutch Floyd, Rae Franks, Trent Steele and Jessica Blackman – and a host of PBCHRC volunteers – for staffing our booth and helping us promote both our organization and our newest partner – the Gay Polo League.

Congratulation to COMPASS for producing the best PrideFest and Gay Pride Parade in Palm Beach County history.

A few days after PrideFest, Council board members were honored to attend the inauguration of West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio. Her strong advocacy for LGBT residents and our families ensures that West Palm Beach will remain Florida’s most LGBT-supportive city.

At the inaugural reception, Council leaders spent time with Delray Beach Mayor “Woodie” McDuffie and with newly-elected West Palm Beach City Commissioners Keith James. Keeping on point in both conversations, we addressed allowing municipal employees to use family and medical leave to care for their domestic partners – a key Council initiative. Both elected officials expressed their strong support for our endeavors.

At the Gay Polo League’s 2nd annual International Gay Polo Tournament the following weekend, I spent time with Wellington Mayor Darrell Bowen, talking about the next steps that need to be taken to implement domestic partner benefits for the employees of the Village of Wellington.

Gay polo was fantastic – and more than a dozen tailgate parties added to the event’s success. Council Board Member Jamie Foreman did an excellent job with the PBCHRC tailgate party – and we thank everyone who stopped by.

The Council is very grateful that the Gay Polo League designated our organization as the charitable beneficiary of the tournament. Thanks go out to Mason Phelps – and everyone at Phelps Media Group – for bringing the event to Wellington and for making it such a success.

Special thanks go out to Chip McKenney, founder of the Gay Polo League, for his recognition of the Council’s successful efforts in encouraging the Village of Wellington to adopt an LGBT inclusive non-discrimination policy.

At the first meeting of the West Palm Beach City Commission presided over by Mayor Muoio, city commissioners unanimously passed a resolution amending the city’’s Family and Medical Leave Policy to allow city employees to use family and medical leave to care for their domestic partners in the same manner as married employees can use it to care for their spouses. With this action, the City of West Palm Beach became the most LGBT-supportive municipality in the southeastern United States. (And you thought it might have been Key West, Miami Beach – or even Lake Worth!).

• Way back in 1992, West Palm Beach became the first city in Florida to offer basic domestic partnership benefits (e.g., sick leave, bereavement leave) to city employees.

• In the years that followed, West Palm Beach offered health insurance and COBRA-like continuation of health insurance coverage to employee’s domestic partners. In addition, the city extended lifetime health insurance benefits to the surviving domestic partner of any city employee killed in the line of duty. West Palm Beach also updated the definition of "immediate family" in the city's Employee Handbook to include an employee's domestic partner's children and parents.

• During the past decade, West Palm Beach established the county’s first domestic partnership registry, through which any qualified unmarried couple could register their relationship with the city clerk. (Soon thereafter Palm Beach County followed suit). As a result, domestic partners are now treated in the same manner as spouses by health-care facilities throughout Palm Beach County with regard to visitation and care decisions. Domestic partners are to be notified as family members in the event of an accident, and in the event of a partner's death, they will be empowered to make funeral decisions.

• Additionally, West Palm Beach also has a human rights ordinance which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation, as well as gender identity or expression.

The Council truly appreciates how promptly the City Commission acted on our request to expand the city’s Family and Medical Leave Policy. We recognize the great work done by Mayors Muoio and Frankel, City Attorney Claudia McKenna and Assistant City Attorney Joshua Koehler to implement this important change. The Council also thanks City Commissioners Keith James, Kimberly Mitchell, Bill Moss and Ike Robinson for their strong support of the city’s lesbian and gay employees and their families,

A controversy over LGBT issues erupted in Lake Worth between The Cottage (a local bar which conducts a tea-dance every Sunday for the LGBT community) and the City of Lake Worth. At a commission meeting addressing the dispute, City Commissioner JoAnn Golden came out as “a gay woman.” At the end of the meeting, the Lake Worth City Commission unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming the its commitment to promoting and protecting diversity and equality in Lake Worth.

Following up on the Lake Worth resolution, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council filed a public records request with Lake Worth City Manager Susan Stanton to determine what city policies – if any – need to be revised to best serve the city’s LGBT employees and residents.

Another public records request was filed with the Village of North Palm Beach by one of the Council’s newly elected Board Members, Jessica Blackman. Once the Council reviews the documents, Jessica will be working with the Villages public officials to see what changes need to be made in Village ordinances and policies.

The Council met with Palm Beach Gardens City Manager Ron Ferris and Director of Human Resources Sheryl Stewart to discuss the possibility of the city expanding the range of domestic partner benefits offered by the city to include both health insurance and family and medical leave . (The City of Palm Beach Gardens already offers all other domestic partner health insurance benefits to its employees). We also discussed adding “gender identity or expression” into the city’s non-discrimination policies.

We continue to urge the members of the Palm Beach County School Board to amend the School District’s Family and Medical Leave policy to include employees’ domestic partners. The Council is very optimistic that the School Board will support the amendment when the item appears on a meeting agenda later this year.

Carey Haughwout, Palm Beach County's Public Defender, notified the Council this week that she has amended her office's policies to allow employees to use family and medical leave benefits to care for their domestic partners. She also informed us that her staff is in the process of updating her office’s nondiscrimination policy to include "gender identity or expression." The Council thanks Public Defender Haughwout for her leadership on LGBT workplace issues.

The Public Defender joins the County’s State Attorney, Supervisor of Elections, Tax Collector and Property Appraiser – all of whom have updated their family and medical leave policies to include domestic partners,

As a result, the sole holdouts on family and medical leave reform among Palm Beach County constitutional officers remain County Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Although both officials declined to make the changes when asked to do so by the Council earlier this year (and previously in 2008), both Clerk Bock and Sheriff Bradshaw have indicated a willingness to review their policies if the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners amends its family and medical leave policy to include domestic partners. The County Commission will take up this matter on May 2 and the Council is optimistic about the outcome.

Delray Beach Mayor “Woodie” McDuffie recently told the Council that he expects to bring up family and medical leave reform in his city within the next few weeks and that he feels comfortable the Delray Beach City Commission will approve the change in the upcoming months.

The Council’s newest board member is Peter Cava, an Adjunct Instructor in Florida Atlantic University’s Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program and a Ph.D. candidate at in FAU. Peter will be assisting the Council, as well as FAU faculty, staff and students, in our longstanding coordinated campaign to encourage the university add both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity and expression" to the school's nondiscrimination policies, and to offer health insurance coverage to employee's domestic partners.

On the national front, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council is urging Congressmen Ted Deutch and Alcee Hastings to co-sponsor six bills of importance to our community:

• The Respect for Marriage Act
• The Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2011
• The Equal Access to COBRA Act of 2011
• The Tyler Clementi Higher Education Anti-Harassment Act of 2011
• The Uniting American Families Act
• The Employment Non-Discrimination Act

While we expect Democratic Congressmen Deutch and Hastings to sponsor all six bills, we have no reason to expect similar support – to say the least – from local Republican Congressmen Tom Rooney or Allan West.

Our expansion into the social media has been a great success. Throughout the day, local, state, national and international news of interest to the GLBT community is posted on the Council's Facebook page (PBCHRC). According to Facebook, our postings are viewed more than 235,000 times per month! In addition, PBCHRC maintains a blog which can be viewed at pbchrc.blogspot.com.

Please help us extend our reach -- and help your Facebook friends keep up with LGBT news, etc. -- by going to the PBCHRC Facebook page and hitting the "Suggest to Friends" button on the right. This will help us out greatly.

The Council continues to assist local organizations and activists across the state in their efforts to secure benefits in their localities. Most recently, we have been assisting activists in Fort Lauderdale in their efforts to convince their city commission to provide domestic partnership benefits to municipal employees.

As you can tell, there is a lot of work being done by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council – and there is even more that needs to be done.

As always, we will keep you informed of our progress.


Rand Hoch,
President and Founder

Top 10 Things We Wouldn't Know About LGBT America Without the Williams Institute

1. 9 million LGBT people live in the U.S., or 3.8 % of the adult population

2. LGBT people are racially, ethnically, and geographically diverse: 1 in 4 LGBT people are people of color, and same-sex couples identified themselves on the Census in 99% of U.S. counties

3. A substantial percentage of LGBT people are raising children: 1 in 5 same-sex couples, and 6% of children in foster care are being raised by LGB people

4. LGB people are serving in the Armed Forces: 71,000 are currently serving and there are over 1 million LGB veterans in the U.S.

5. 70,000 same-sex couples have gotten married in the U.S.; another 90,000 have entered civil unions and domestic partnerships

6. The annual divorce rate for same-sex couples and different-sex married couples is similar -- about 2%

7. LGBT people are not more affluent. Gay men earn 10 to 23% less, on average, than heterosexual men. Children of same-sex couples are twice as likely to live in poverty.

8. Rates of hate crimes and employment discrimination against LGBT people are similar or higher than those for other protected groups. Until the Williams Institute, no one analyzed this data on a per capita basis, taking into account the size of the LGBT population.

9. Don't Ask, Don't Tell cost taxpayers as much as $500 million during the length of the policy.

10. If all 50 states and the federal government recognized marriage for same-sex couples, the federal budget would benefit by over $1 billion each year.

Rev. Mark D. Boykin, a Boca Raton anti-gay media hog, calls PBCHRC a "nefarious extremist group"

Sun Sentinel - Palm Beach Politics

Gay activist hails, religious leader criticizes updated city policy for gay employees

By Anthony Man
April 7, 2011

Rand Hoch, founder of the gay rights group Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, is praising the West Palm Beach City Commission's decision to amend city policy to allow employees with domestic partners the right to use family and medical leave to care for their domestic partners the same way married employees can use it to care for their spouses.

"Perhaps one day, the state of Florida and the federal government will end their discrimination against non-traditional families," Hoch said. "Until that day comes, it is incumbent upon local officials to take action to protect all families."

Before the city policy change, employees were allowed to to take unpaid, job-protected leave to attend to their own serious health conditions, as well as to those of their spouses, children and parents.

"As mayor, I am proud that our lesbian and gay municipal employees are entitled to every family benefit offered by the City of West Palm Beach," Mayor Jeri Muoio said in a statement.

The Rev. Mark D. Boykin, senior pastor of Church of All Nations in Boca Raton, opposed the move.

“We are coming together to defend our family values and the traditions we hold dear in the State of Florida,” said Boykin. “It is sad to see that Mayor Jeri Muoio and the city commissioners capitulating to nefarious extremist groups in order to push a radical agenda. We have so many issues and problems in the City of West Palm Beach, and we need the mayor and city commissioners to focus on solving city issues and not to undermine the fabric of the nuclear family.”

http://weblogs.sun-sentinel.com/news/politics/palm/blog/2011/04/gay_activist_hails_religious_l.html

West Palm becomes first city in county to give family sick leave to domestic partners

by Andrew Abramson
Palm Beach Post staff writer

April 4, 2011

Jeri Muoio’s first commission meeting as mayor has few items on it, but the commission just passed a piece of legislation that the county’s Human Rights Council is hailing as a major landmark for gay and lesbian rights.

West Palm Beach became the first city in the county to extend family sick leave to domestic partners. Currently, a heterosexual employee can take up to 12 weeks off if his or her spouse or partner has a major illness. In West Palm Beach, that will now be extended to gay and lesbian couples, as well as heterosexual non-married couples who have registered with the city as being domestic partners.

“We’re on mission this year with the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council to address the problems with the family medical leave act,” said Rand Hoch, founder of the human rights council.

“Here in Florida, we know there’s not going to be any action taken by this (state) legislature in the next two years, and even though we have support on the national level from Congressman Deutch and Congressman Hastings, it’s not going to happen on the federal level in the next two years either. That means activist groups here in Palm Beach County and throughout Florida have to work with every single employer so we can educate them in the gap here.”

Hoch said his organization is working with Delray Beach, Wellington and Palm Beach County to pass similar legislation.

“As usual, with West Palm Beach being probably the city south of the Mason-Dixon line and east of the Mississippi that has the most pro-non traditional family policies anywhere in America, we went to the city first on this one.”

West Palm Beach spokesman Chase Scott said it won’t come at a cost to the city. Workers will still have to burn through their vacation and sick time before taking the extended leave, which will be unpaid although the workers will receive benefits during this time. Their jobs will remain open while they are on leave, and they can return at full salary.

While Muoio campaigned on being a champion for gay and lesbian rights, Hoch said it’s more of a coincidence that this item will be passed at Muoio’s first commission meeting as mayor.

“Lois (Frankel) has been working on this and Lois has been great on these issues all along,” Hoch said. “When Jeri first came on board (as commissioner) she was the one who got COBRA benefits extended to domestic partners, which was a similar situation. I thought this would come up as one of Lois’ last hurrahs so to speak, because she’s done so much for the community. But it had to go through the process and it just came out that the date they could put on the calendar was the date of Jeri’s first meeting. We’re thrilled, we would would have been thrilled with Lois, we’re thrilled with Jeri and it really does help us a lot. I think Jeri is pretty proud to be able to do this at her first meeting.”

Currently, 40 West Palm Beach employees are registered as living in a domestic partnership, with the numbers closely split between gay and straight couples. Muoio said West Palm Beach needs to be at the forefront of these issues.

“We are the largest city (in the county) and we have the most employees,” Muoio said. “It’s appropriate that we do this.”

On the federal and state level, many activist groups are working just to get basic health benefits to gay couples. According to Hoch, West Palm Beach was the first city in the state to give health benefits to domestic partners in 1992.

“We’ve been at this for a while,” Hoch said. “Now we’re just picking up the pieces.”

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Update - March 9, 2011

March 2011

As expected, the general voter turnout in the March 8 West Palm Beach municipal election was extremely low. While many voters opted to stay home, LGBT voters - and our allies - responded overwhelmingly to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance voter identification, voter education, absentee ballot and get-out-the-vote campaigns.

In mid-February, the four candidates for Mayor and three candidates for City Commission attended the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council's "Meet and Greet" at Grandview Gardens Bed & Breakfast. Almost 100 LGBT voters had the opportunity to meet one-on-one with the candidates. Thanks go out to Grandview Gardens' owners Peter and Rick and Council Vice President Deidre Newton for making this event such a great success.

A few days after the "Meet & Greet", the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance met individually with each of the seven candidates for 20 minutes to discuss issues of concern to the city's LGBT community. Shortly thereafter, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance made endorsements based on the organization's criteria:

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance endorses candidates who support LGBT initiatives and privacy rights. Endorsements of candidates are made upon consideration of:

* How a candidate has voted on LGBT and privacy issues
* How a candidate has supported the Palm Beach County LGBT community

As a result of our efforts, once again voter participation by Palm Beach County Human Rights Council supporters was exceptionally strong and West Palm Beach City Commissioner Jeri Muoio, who was endorsed by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance, was successful in her campaign to succeed Lois Frankel as Mayor of West Palm Beach.

Congratulations Jeri!

While neither of the two candidates in the March 22 run-off for West Palm Beach City Commissioner (District 4) was endorsed by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance, both are supportive of LGBT issues. We are in the process of determining whether or not to endorse either candidate in the March 22 election.

Special thanks go out to West Palm Beach's outgoing Mayor Lois Frankel for promptly acting on the Council's request to amend city policy to permit municipal employees with domestic partners to take family and medical leave to care for their domestic partners in the same manner married city employees can take leave to care for their spouses.

Mayor Frankel's action on family and medical leave came just days after Michael McAuliffe, State Attorney for the Fifteen Judicial Circuit of Florida, amended his office's policy on family medical leave to include domestic partners. McAuliffe also updated his policies to prohibit harassment based on gender identity and expression.

Thanks also go out to Carey Haughwout, Palm Beach County's Public Defender, who recently informed the Council the she would be amending her office's policies to allow employees to use family and medical leave benefits to care for their domestic partners. She also told us that her office's nondiscrimination policy will be updated to include "gender identity or expression."

The Council is also working on family medical leave reform with the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners and looks forward to a vote on this in the near future. If this effort is successful, the Council will then ask the City of Delray Beach to honor a commitment made years ago to update their family medical leave policy accordingly.

Earlier this year, the Council also asked the County's Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock and Sheriff Ric Bradshaw to review their policies to allow employees to use family and medical leave to care for their domestic partners. Although both recently declined to make the changes (as they both did when initially asked in 2008), both Clerk Bock and Sheriff Bradshaw have pledged to revisit this issue if the County Commission amends their policy.

Congratulations also go out to State Attorney McAuliffe, along with Assistant State Attorneys Ché Padron and Daniel Funk, and Officer Jennifer Thornton of the Riviera Beach Police Department for their successful efforts in the investigation and prosecution of an anti-gay hate crime in Riviera Beach. Thanks to their efforts, the juvenile assailant - Alvontay Cook - was sentenced to five and one-half years in prison.

In January 2010, Cook and another man started taunting a gay man who was out for a walk in his neighborhood. Although the victim ignored their anti-gay comments, Cook came up from behind him and punched him in the head. His accomplice then held the victim down while Cook repeatedly hit him in the face with a glass bottle until it shattered. Cook then used the broken glass to slash the victim's face. (The severe laceration required hospitalization and reconstructive surgery). Fortunately for the victim, a neighbor came to his rescue, chased Cook and his accomplice away, and treated the victim's wound until the ambulance came. The neighbor then assisted the police in identifying Cook.

On a more positive note, the Council was pleased to participate to participate in Florida Atlantic University LGBTQA Resource Center's grand opening event panel discussion on the "History of Pride." It was a great event and we are very proud of the work done by FAU faculty, administrators, staff and students in making the resource center a reality.

Meanwhile, Allan Barsky, an openly gay professor who has been working for close to a decade on LGBT issues at Florida Atlantic University, met last month with University President M. J. Saunders to discuss adding both "sexual orientation" and "gender identity and expression" to the school's nondiscrimination policies, and to consider offering and health insurance coverage to employee's domestic partners. Allan reports that progress is being made.

Our work with the School District of Palm Beach County is centered on enforcing the LGBT inclusive anti-bullying and harassment policy the Council worked on so diligently in 2007, educating both students and School District employees on GLBT issues, encouraging the establishment of gay student alliances (GSAs), and conforming a variety of nondiscrimination policies so that all will include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. School Board Member Jenny Prior Brown has offered to take the lead in our efforts regarding the policy changes and the Council will be meeting with the other school board members throughout the year as we move forward on these issues.

The Council is also working closely with Palm Beach Gardens Mayor David Levy as we renew our efforts to secure domestic partnership health insurance for the employees of the City of Palm Beach Gardens. The city already provides other domestic partnership benefits to its employees.

The Council's expansion into the social media has been a great success. Throughout the day, local, state, national and international news of interest to the GLBT community is posted on the Council's Facebook page (PBCHRC). According to Facebook, our postings are viewed more than 235,000 times per month! In addition, PBCHRC maintains a blog which can be viewed at pbchrc.blogspot.com.

The Council is pleased to announce the addition to two new members to our Board of Directors, Hutch Floyd of West Palm Beach and Jessica Blackman of North Palm Beach. We hope you will stop by our booth at PrideFest on March 26 and 27 and meet them both.

We also hope to see you on Saturday afternoon, April 2, for the Second Annual International Gay Polo Tournament at the Grand Champions Polo Field in Wellington - and for the after-party as well. You can purchase advance tickets by going to: http://gaypolotournament.blog.com/tickets. Thanks to the generosity of the Gay Polo League, fifty percent of the proceeds from the sale of general admission tickets will be donated to the Council!

The Council continues to work with Wellington officials on our campaign to have the full range of domestic partnership benefits extended to Village employees.

Though our affiliation with Florida Together, the Council will continue to assist other local organizations across the state, so that they may secure the protections and benefits secured by the Council for Palm Beach County's LGBT community for more than two decades.

As always, we will keep you informed of our progress.



Rand Hoch
President and Founder

P.S. If you are on Facebook, please join the more than 1,800 people who "like" PBCHRC. And if you blog, please check us out at: http://pbchrc.blogspot.com.

Congressman Tom Rooney's Letter to a Constituent on Marriage Equaliy

A PBCHRC supporter sent an e-mail message to Congressman Tom Rooney, asking him to support marriage for all. Here is Rooney's e-mail response:

"Thank you for taking the time to contact me with your views on the legal status of marriage. I appreciate hearing from you and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

I firmly believe traditional marriage should be upheld and defined as a union between one man and one woman. I oppose efforts to redefine marriage, an institution that has endured thousands of years.

Again, thank you for expressing your views on this issue. Please keep me updated on the issues that are important to you. Also, I encourage you to visit my website at http://www.facebook.com/l/ef045/www.rooney.house.gov to sign up for my e-newsletter.


Sincerely,

Thomas J. Rooney
Member of Congress""

Do you know where your Members of Congress stand on these 15 LGBT related bills?

These are the fifteen House bills PBCHRC will be focusing on in this Congress. Not all have been introduced yet.

Please contact your Congressman or Congresswoman and ask if he or she will support -- or better yet, co-sponsor -- the following bills:

1. Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) (Rep. Barney FRANK, D-MA) (Outlaws discrimination on SO+GI by govt & private employees, like Title VII of CRA and Gov’t Employees Rights Act do for other group-traits).

2. Freedom from Discrimination in Credit Act (Rep. Steve ISREAL, D-NY2, Frank, Baldwin, Polis) (adds SO+GI to Equal Credit Opport. Act)

3. Fair and Inclusive Housing Rights Act (Rep. NADLER, D-NY8) (adds SO+GI to Fair Housing Act, Title VIII of CRA)

4. Student Non-Discrimination Act (Rep. Jarrod POLIS, D- CO, Frank, Baldwin, Nadler) (end discrimination/harrassment based on SO/GI via federal programs (CRA, Title VI) hook; whistle blower; enforcement provisions; private right of action.

5. Equal Rights for Healthcare Act (Rep. Laura RICHARDSON, D-CA37) (prohbits discrim in fed. health care services/research programs on basis of ‘sex, race, color, nat.origin, so, gi, or disability’)

6. Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act (Rep. Tammy BALDWIN, D-WI12) (pre-existing conditions; fed. Employee DP; Medicaid for HIV; spouse for Medicare; nondis for SO/GI in Medicaid/care, CHIP; grants for SO/GI studies and projects to improve health & mental health for so/gi minorities; ‘culturally competent’ care provisions; office of LGBT health; anti-violence programs/studies; teen pregnancy/stds grants; children of same-sex partners insurance benefits; veterans benefits and DOD programs.) (MOST probably covered by Title VI, CRA; except new programs)

7. Respect for Marriage Act (DOMA Repeal) (Rep. Jerrold NADLER, D-NY8) (repeals DOMA, recognizes valid state marriages)

8. Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) (Rep. Jerrold NADLER, D-NY8;) (provides domestic partnership equivalent for spousal immigration process)

9. Family Medical Leave Inclusion Act (Rep. Carolyn MALONEY, D-NY14) (creates Domestic Partner equivalent provisions)

10. Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations (DPBO) Act (Rep. Tammy BALDWIN, D-WI2) (adds annuity/pension benefits for all gov’t employees, except armed services, but including DOD, Coast Guard) (Committee: Homeland Security)

11. Tax Equity for Health Plan Beneficiaries (Rep. James McDERMOTT, D-WA7;) (makes health insurance contributions for any ‘eligible beneficiary’ deductable)

12. Every Child Deserves a Family (ECDF) (Rep. Fortney STARK, D-CA13) (ends discrimination in federally funded adoption/foster care, based on SO+GI, marital status).

13. Safe Schools Improvement Act (Rep. Linda SANCHEZ, D-CA, Frank, Baldwin)(adds to definition of “violence”: bullying and harassment based on ‘race, color, nat. org, sex, SO/GI, disability” to the Safe & Drug Free Schools & Community Act; complaint procedures; evaluations.)

14. Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act (Rep. Barbara LEE, D-CA9) (sex education/HIV/STDs program, study, includes nondis SO+GI)

15. Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) (Rep. Eliot ENGLE, D-NY17) (committee: Energy/sub-Health) (insuring HIV antiviral treatment under Social Security).

STATE ATTORNEY EXTENDS FAMILY MEDICAL LEAVE BENEFITS TO DOMESTIC PARTNERS

(West Palm Beach, Florida) At the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Michael McAuliffe, State Attorney for the Fifteen Judicial Circuit of Florida, has revised his policies to allow employees to use family medical leave to care for domestic partners with serious health conditions. Previously, the policy was limited to employees’ spouses, parents and children.

The Council, a local nonprofit organization founded in 1988, is dedicated to dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

McAuliffe also updated his policies to prohibit harassment based on gender identity and expression. The prior policy included race, religious creed, color, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, age, sexual orientation and genetic information.

“As State Attorney, I am committed to creating a work place that can bring out our employees’ best abilities and potential. That means no barriers based on sexual orientation,” said McAuliffe. “By making sure my policies reflect that reality, I want to send the message gay and lesbian members of the state attorney’s office can, and must, be welcome as full members of the team.”

"State Attorney McAuliffe’s pro-family policies should serve as a model for his colleagues statewide," said Council President Rand Hoch.

McAuliffe informed the Council that he will advocate at the Florida Prosecuting Attorneys Association for statutory changes to extend domestic partner benefits to employees of the 20 state attorneys in Florida .

McAuliffe’s updated policy is in line with family medical leave policies in at least twelve states (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington) and the District of Columbia, all of which provide family medical leave for same-sex couples.

In 2004, at the Council’s request, then-Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Theresa LePore became the first public employer in Florida to allow employees to use family medical leave to care for domestic partners. Since then, only a few Florida public employers – all located in Palm Beach County – have followed LePore’s lead. They include the Office of the Palm Beach County Tax Collector, the Office of the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser and the Port of Palm Beach.

The Council is currently working on family medical leave reform with the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners and the City of West Palm Beach.

PBCHRC Update - January 2011

Throughout 2010, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council remained vigilant in our efforts to secure equality for Palm Beach County’s unified, committed and strong gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

Once again, GLBT voters throughout the county came out in record numbers to participate in local, state and national elections. The remarkable turnout was due to the tremendous work done by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance volunteers who spent countless hours screening and interviewing candidates.

While many voters opted to stay home on election day, GLBT voters - and our allies - responded overwhelmingly to the Voters Alliance voter identification, voter education, early voting, absentee ballot and get-out-the-vote campaigns. As a result, 19 of the endorsed local candidates were elected to office. These elected officials clearly understand that, as individuals and as family members, we are entitled to share in the rights, responsibilities and benefits enjoyed by all other Americans.

Our most significant electoral accomplishments in 2010 were the repeated victories for U.S. Congressman Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton). After longtime PBCHRC supporter Robert Wexler resigned from Congress, Ted faced opposition on the ballot three times in 2010 – in a special primary election in February, a special election in April and in the general election in November. In each election, Ted won by a landslide.

During his tenure in the Florida Senate, Ted was the legislature’s most effective advocate for gay rights. At the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, Ted sponsored legislation to amending the Florida Civil Rights and Fair Housing Acts to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. In 2008, Ted worked closely with Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach) – then a state senator who co-sponsored the gay rights bill and now Florida’s Chief Financial Officer – in orchestrating bi-partisan support which resulted in the only successful vote on a gay rights bill in Florida’s history.

Ted has continued to be a leader on our issues in Washington, D.C. Following a procedural vote on overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” last April, Ted called to let us know how proud he was to be able to be a part of the historic vote. Since he has been in Congress, Ted has also co-sponsored several pieces of legislation of importance to the GLBT community, including, but not limited to, the Safe Schools Improvement Act, the Student Nondiscrimination Act and the Uniting American Families Act.

Not only does Ted support our community with his votes, he does so with his time, his money, and his heart. He is always helping out whether it be by purchasing extra tickets to “The Laramie Project” so that members of the Compass youth program can attend, bringing friends to the Council’s Summer Soirée, participating at PrideFest or enjoying International Gay Polo League Tournament.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance is proud to have played a part in the election of both Congressman Ted Deutch and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater (R-North Palm Beach)

Two other longtime PBCHRC supporters – former School Board Member/now County Commissioner Paulette Burdick and former Lake Worth Mayor/now State Representative Jeff Clemens – were elected with strong support from the Voters Alliance.

For a complete list of the candidates endorsed by the Voters Alliance who were elected in 2010, go to: www.pbchrc.org/endorsements.html.

On the subject of federal office holders, the Council has decided that since Congressman Tom Rooney (R-Tequesta) has repeatedly refused to schedule a district meeting with Palm Beach County Human Rights Council representatives and has consistently voted against gay rights legislation in Congress, the Council will most likely not expend any additional time or effort trying to convince him that he was elected to represent all of his constituents – not just the non-gay ones. And with the election of rabidly anti-gay Congressman Allen West (R-Plantation), the Council is looking forward to redistricting prior to the 2012 elections.

With municipal elections just weeks away, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Voters Alliance is gearing up to interview and screen candidates. Of special interest (so far) are the elections in West Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.

One of the Council’s priorities in 2010 was our work with the Village of Wellington (pop. 55,584). As a result of our efforts, Village amended it's Equal Employment Opportunity policy to prohibit discrimination based on both sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in its employment practices. (See, www.wellingtonfl.gov/news-a-updates/3/7.html). The Council is currently working with the Village Manager in drafting language to secure domestic partnership benefits for Village employees.

As a result of our efforts in Wellington, the Council has been adopted by the Gay Polo League (www.gaypolo.com), the world's only polo league for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender players. Grateful for the Council’s efforts, the Gay Polo League is donating 50% profit from general admission ticket sales for the second International Gay Polo Tournament to the Council. The event will be held at the Grand Champions Polo Field in Wellington on Saturday, April 2, 2011. In addition, several of the polo players will appear in the annual gay pride parade in Lake Worth on Sunday, March 27, so save both dates!

This year, the Council will renew our efforts to have the County Commission amend its Family Medical Leave Policy to allow employees to use this leave to care for their domestic partners in the same manner as married employees can use it to care for their spouses. The proposal, initially brought before the Commission at the Council’s request in 2007 by former Commissioner Jeff Koons, was shot down by all of his six colleagues. However, since then, four new Commissioners have been elected – including longtime PBCHRC supporters Paulette Burdick, Shelley Vana and Priscilla Taylor . The Council is hopeful that a majority of the County Commission will remove this last vestige of discrimination against the County’s gay and lesbian employees.

If this effort is successful, the Council will then request the City of Delray Beach, the County’s Clerk and Comptroller and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office to follow suit. All three currently provide the full range of domestic partner benefits – with the exception of family medical leave.

After more than two years, we are still awaiting word from State Attorney Michael McAuliffe about our request for his office provide domestic partner benefits. The Council expected to hear from him during 2009 and 2010, but to date, this does not appear to be a priority with his staff.

Our work with the School Board of Palm Beach County in 2011 will focus on enforcing the GLBT inclusive anti-bullying and harassment policy the Council worked on so diligently in 2007, educating both students and School District employees on GLBT issues, encouraging the establishment of gay student alliances (GSAs), and conforming a variety of nondiscrimination policies so that all will include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

Four new School Board members were elected last year: Jennifer Prior Brown, Marcia Andrews, Chuck Shaw and Karen Brill. The Voters Alliance interviewed all of the new members and was very encouraged by their knowledge of GLBT issues in the School District and their willingness to assist the Council in our efforts.

Following the municipal elections in Palm Beach Gardens in March, the Council will renew our efforts to secure domestic partnership health insurance for the city’s employees. The City already provides other domestic partnership benefits to its employees.

The Council continues to work with GLBT activists and allies at Florida Atlantic University to have the school's nondiscrimination policies specifically prohibit discrimination based sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to provide domestic partner benefits for FAU employees. We are very optimistic that the nondiscrimination policies will be updated in 2011. With regard to domestic partnership benefits, FAU currently is exploring models used by University of Florida, Florida International University and other state universities.

The Council’s expansion into the social media has been a great success. Throughout the day, local, state, national and international news of interest to the GLBT community is posted on the Council’s Facebook page (PBCHRC). Other information is posted from time to time on our blog at pbchrc.blogspot.com.

On a final note, the Council is deeply disappointed in Governor Rick Scott’s decision not to include religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy and marital status in Executive Order 11-04 on diversity in state government. The Council made this request shortly after the November elections – and it obviously fell on deaf ears. Although this was not completely unexpected. During Charlie Crist’s four year tenure as governor, the Council wrote to him on more than a dozen occasions, asking for a similar executive order. Not once did he even respond.

Our experience tells us that pro-LGBT changes in statewide matters will not be forthcoming from our Governor and legislators in Tallahassee. They will only come from the courts – such as last year’s victory striking down the ban on adoption by gay and lesbian Floridians.

Though our affiliation with Florida Together (www.outfl.org), the Council will continue to assist other local organizations across the state, so that they may secure the protections and benefits secured by the Council for Palm Beach County’s GLBT community for more than two decades.

As always, we will keep you informed of our progress.

Best wishes for 2011!



Rand Hoch
President and Founder

GOV. RICK SCOTT'S COMMITMENT TO DIVERISTY EXCLUDES LGBT WORKERS

Out in America
January 4, 2011

(Tallahassee, Florida) Shortly after he was sworn in as Florida's 45th governor, Rick Scott issued an executive order addressing diversity in state government.

A request for the order had been made last month by the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. The Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1988, is dedicated to dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

In a December 6 letter to the Scott Transition Team, Council President Rand Hoch requested that the incoming governor's first executive order address equal opportunity in state employment.

"By doing so on the day you take office, you will assure all Floridians that the State of Florida is committed to providing equal employment opportunity in state government to all qualified individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information, pregnancy or marital status," Hoch wrote.

While the Council's request was for an inclusive order, Scott instead issued Executive Order 11-04, which narrowly limited Florida's non-discrimination policies to address only race, gender, creed, color and national origin.

"Governor Scott's limited view of diversity is very discouraging," said Hoch. "Governor Scott did not even include all of the classifications listed in the Florida Civil Rights Act -- let alone sexual orientation and gender identity."

The Florida Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on "race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, or marital status." In addition, Florida courts have also determined that pregnancy is a protected classification.

Governor Rick Scott's Executive Order on Diversity in Government

OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
EXECUTIVE ORDER NUMBER 11-04

Reaffirming Commitment to Diversity in Government

WHEREAS, the Florida Constitution provides that all natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and that no person shall be deprived of any right because of race or national Origin; and

WHEREAS, it is vitally important to respect these principles in all aspects of state government, and it is of particular importance to respect these principles in state employment and contracting;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, RICK SCOTT, as Governor of Florida, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Article IV, Section (1)(a) of the Florida Constitution, and all other applicable laws, do hereby promulgate the following Executive Order, to take immediate effect:

Section 1. I hereby reaffirm the policy of non-discrimination in government employment established in Executive Order 99-281. It shall be the policy of my administration to prohibit discrimination in employment based on race, gender, creed, color, or national origin, and to ensure equal opportunity for all individuals currently employed in, and individuals seeking employment in, my administration. I hereby prohibit the enforcement or adoption of any and all employment policies and practices in the Office of the Governor, and agencies under the direction of the Governor, that discriminate on the basis of race, gender, creed, color, or national origin.

It has been, and shall continue to be, the policy of my administration to seek out for hiring, retention, and promotion, the highest quality candidates for my administration regardless of race, gender, creed, color, or national origin.

Section 2. I hereby reaffirm the policy of non-discrimination in government contracting established in Executive Order 99-281. It shall be the policy of my administration to encourage competition and ensure state contracting opportunities are provided without discrimination based on race, gender, creed, color, or national origin.