Tuesday, January 3, 2012

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

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