Palm
Beach County has expanded its anti-discrimination law, requiring equal
treatment of customers at a broader range of businesses including
bakeries, clothing stores, grocery stores and even funeral parlors.
Palm Beach County's
newly expanded anti-discrimination law requires that more businesses
serve customers based on their ability to pay and not their race,
religion or sexual orientation.
Rules that initially called for
equal treatment at restaurants, bars, hotels and housing were broadened
recently to include bakeries, clothing stores, funeral parlors and a
host of other businesses.
"Everybody
should be treated the same way, wherever they go. Period. It shouldn't
even be a thought," said County Mayor Shelley Vana, who called the
expanded law "a move in the right direction."
It was a change championed in particular by the gay and lesbian community.
At
a time when the courts have legalized same-sex marriage, gay and
lesbian couples planning their weddings face being refused service
because of their sexual orientation, according to Rand Hoch, president
and founder of the
Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.
"Allowing
store owners to choose their customers based on prejudice deprives
shoppers of the freedom to walk into a store that seems to be open the
general public and get served like everybody else," Hoch said.
The
county's "public accommodation" law — initially passed in 1990 and
previously updated last year — takes aim at discrimination based on
race, sex, color, religion, national origin, disability, familial
status, sexual orientation, age, marital status and gender identity or
expression.
That
makes it unlawful for businesses, because of those factors, "to refuse,
withhold from or deny" service, goods or any "accommodations" offered
to other customers.
The rules previously covered hotels and other
lodging as well as businesses such as restaurants, bars, movies,
theaters and sports arenas.
The newly expanded version covers
more retail establishments, including bakeries, grocery stores, clothing
stores and shopping centers.
The law now also includes more
public gathering places, such as auditoriums and lecture halls as well
as service-oriented businesses such as laundromats, banks, dry cleaners,
hair salons, doctor's offices and hospitals.
Taxi
and limousine services are specifically referenced by the far-reaching
law, along with museums and galleries, private schools, from pre-school
to graduate school, and gyms and public golf courses.
The two
primary exemptions to the county's law are for religious organizations
and private clubs that aren't open to the general public.
Local business leaders didn't voice any complaints when the County Commission on Tuesday approved the rule changes.
Lack
of opposition shows how the community is evolving on equal rights,
according to Dennis Grady, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce
of the Palm Beaches. Scaring away customers isn't good for business, he
added.
"Most, if not all, private businesses operate under the theory that [they] want to maximize their profits," Grady said.
People
who think they have been discriminated against can file a complaint
with the county's Office of Equal Opportunity, which investigates and
determines if there was a violation.
If wrongdoing is found, the
county tries to reach reconciliation between the parties. If an
agreement can't be reached, the person who filed the complaint can go to
court and use the county's finding of a violation to bolster a lawsuit.
Landlords
and businesses found to have violated the county's law can face court
penalties ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 per offense, on top of court
fees and other penalties a judge impose.
The goal of expanding the
law is to "make sure that the county is treating everybody fairly,"
Commissioner Mary Lou Berger, who supported expanding the county's
anti-discrimination law, said.
"The world is changing so fast," Berger said. "We are coming out of the dark ages."
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