West Palm Beach Housing Authority amends Equal Employment Policy to include gender identity and gender expression

January 27, 2012

At the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, the West Palm Beach Housing Authority has amended its Equal Employment Policy to include both gender identity and gender expression.

The new policy now reads: The Authority maintains a policy of non-discrimination with employees and applicants for employment. Open positions will be filled by the best qualified applicant without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, veteran status, marital status, sexual orientation, political belief, gender identity, gender expression or mental or physical disability (if such disability does not unreasonably interfere with the abilities of the employee to perform the work required).

Palm Beach County broadens commercial non-discrimination policy to include "gender identity or expression"

January 25, 2011

(West Palm Beach Beach) By a 6-1 vote, the Palm Beach County Board of County Commissioners amended its Nondiscrimination in Contracting Policy on Tuesday, prohibiting the County from doing business with, or appropriating funds to, public and private organizations which practice discrimination based on "gender identity or expression."

The policy now covers race, color, national origin, religion, ancestry, sex, age, marital status, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or disability.

Commissioner Steven Abrams of Boca Raton cast the only "no" vote, stating that the new standards could have a negative impact on the number of businesses bidding on county projects.

Abrams, a Republican, expressed concern that the new policy could lead to less competition and higher prices for taxpayers.

"Commissioner Abrams' concern is unfounded," said Rand Hoch, a retired judge who serves as President of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council. The Council is a local nonprofit organization is dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

"The Palm Beach County School District's Commercial Non-Discrimination Policy includes sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression," said Hoch. "Commissioner Abrams cannot point to one company that has stopped bidding for work on our schools because of that policy."

In response to Abrams' concern that the policy could lead to additional litigation, Hoch replied, "Palm Beach County law already prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity or expression. The new policy will not give rise to any new cause of action."

The Council commended the County Commissioners for taking a proactive stand against discrimination.

City of Delray Beach Expands Domestic Partnership Benefits

(Delray Beach, Florida) The Delray Beach City Commission voted unanimously on Tuesday to amend 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 married employees may use it to care for their spouses.

The action was taken at the request of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, which has been working with the city on domestic partnership issues since 2006.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has been the leading advocate for domestic partner benefits in Florida since 1992, when theCity of West Palm Beach became Florida's first public employer to provide domestic partnership benefits.

"With this action, the City of Delray Beach now offers employees with domestic partners virtually all of the same family benefits it provides to married employees," said Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch, "The pro-family domestic partnership policies in Delray Beach are among the most progressive in the State of Florida."

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, the Town of Jupiter and the Village of Wellington.

PBCHRC President's Message - January 2012

January 2012

While Florida has the third largest LGBT population of any state in the union (following California and New York), our state lacks any statewide laws offering protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents regarding employment, housing and public accommodations. Florida also lacks any statewide law protecting LGBT students from bullying and harassment. Moreover, Florida’s constitution and statutes prohibit lesbians and gay men from marrying their partners.

However, thanks to the efforts of the all-volunteer Board of Directors of the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council over the past twenty-four years, more than sixty local laws and policies now provide Palm Beach County’s LGBT residents (and visitors) with both equal protection and equal family benefits.

Both Palm Beach County’s Equal Employment Ordinance and Fair Housing Ordinance prohibit discrimination based on both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression.” The Cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth have also enacted citywide ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on both “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression”.

Other local public employers that have enacted ordinances, collective bargaining agreements, and policies prohibiting discrimination based on both “sexual orientation” and/or “gender identity or expression” for their employees include the City of Atlantis, the City of Belle Glade, the City of Boynton Beach, the City of Delray Beach, the City of Greenacres, the City of Pahokee, the City of Palm Beach Gardens, the City of South Bay, the Town of Haverhill, the Town of Hypoluxo, the Town of Juno Beach, the Town of Jupiter, the Town of Lake Park, the Town of Manalapan, the Town of Palm Beach, the Town of Palm Beach Shores, the Village of Royal Palm Beach, the Village of Tequesta, the Village of Wellington, the School District of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach State College, Florida Atlantic University, the Port of Palm Beach, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, the Office of the Tax Collector, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, the Office of the Public Defender, the Office of the State Attorney, the Palm Beach County Sheriffs' Office, the Office of the Clerk and Comptroller, Seacoast Utility Authority, the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Tran and the Palm Beach County Children's Services Council.

Both the City of West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County have domestic partnership registries that provide limited “spousal” benefits for lesbian and gay couples who have registered as domestic partners (or who have been married or entered into a civil union anywhere in the world).

In 1992, the City of West Palm Beach became the first public employer in Florida to offer domestic partnership benefits to its employees. Other public employers in Palm Beach County that now offer family health insurance coverage and other family benefits for employees with domestic partners include (in chronological order): the Palm Beach County Sheriffs' Office, the Office of the Clerk and Comptroller, the Port of Palm Beach, the City of Lake Worth, the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, Palm Beach County, the School District of Palm Beach County, the Office of the Supervisor of Elections, the Office of the Tax Collector, the City of Delray Beach, the Solid Waste Authority, Palm Tran, the Town of Jupiter, the Health Care District of Palm Beach County, Palm Beach State College, the Palm Beach County Children's Services Council and Seacoast Utility Authority.

In recent years, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has focused on family issues, working with public employers to ensure that employees could use family medical leave to care for their domestic partners in the same manner as other employees could use it to care for their spouses. The following public employers enacted inclusive family medical leave policies in 2011: the School District of Palm Beach County, the Office of the State Attorney, the Office of the Public Defender, the City of West Palm Beach, the City of Lake Worth and the Village of Wellington.

While Palm Beach County, the City of Delray Beach, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, and Clerk & Comptroller Sharon Bock informed the Council last Spring that they will update their family and medical leave policies to include domestic partners, to date they have not revised their policies. However, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council expects these changes to be made in early 2012.

With virtually no hope of progress on the statewide (or federal level) for LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination laws and equal benefit policies for LGBT families, much work remains to be done on the local level.

Since 1988, the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council has worked diligently on behalf of the LGBT community. Rest assured we will continue to do so in 2012 – and beyond.

Rand Hoch,

President and Founder