TG Community News Bulletins

I will, from time to time, post news items of interest on this page. If you come across an item of interest to the community as a whole, e-mail it to me and I'll post it here.

SOUTHERN COMFORT is produced and directed by Kate Davis; co-produced by Elizabeth Adams; edited by Kate Davis. For HBO: supervising producer, Nancy Abraham; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.

[Comment: After this was written and published, the Mayor signed the bill into law. Not only does it add more teeth to the existing law that only covered city employees, but it covers the Transgender community in the private sector. Cathy Woolard was the City Council member who proclaimed November 28, 2000 as the official "Day of Remembrance," and now she's helped us again. -- Monica F. Helms, director, Trans=Action.]

Atlanta to adopt gay bias ban?
by Laura Brown
Southern Voice
Thursday, 7 December 2000

The Atlanta City Council voted Monday to approve broad civil rights legislation that would for the first time ban anti-gay job discrimination in private employment in the city and allow victims to pursue their claims in Municipal Court. Led by openly gay City Council member Cathy Woolard, sponsor of the legislation, the City Council voted 14-1 to approve the measure, which also increases protections based on race, gender, religion and other categories already covered by federal law. During a more than 12-hour meeting, the last of the year, the council also unanimously approved a series of ordinances by Woolard cleaning up and standardizing non-discrimination statements scattered throughout the city's legal code.

While the "whole package" is significant, Woolard acknowledged, the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in the legislation would have special impact, because those categories are not currently included in state and federal non-discrimination laws. "As we well know, gay people and transgendered people don't have a right of action in the state, and now in Atlanta we have legislation that says you can't be discriminated against in housing, public accommodations and employment," Woolard said.

The "private right of action" created by the legislation allows victims of alleged discrimination to file civil suits in the Atlanta Municipal Court, which has previously handled only misdemeanor criminal cases for the city. The move is a first for the Deep South, according to Harry Knox, Georgia Equality Project executive director and one of those who worked with Woolard on the legislation.

Woolard, currently a candidate for Atlanta City Council president in 2001, "was the first openly gay elected official in the Deep South," said Knox, "and now she is the first elected representative in the Deep South to introduce and pass legislation that really says you simply cannot discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered citizens, voters and families." If the legislation becomes law, Atlanta will also become the first city in Georgia to ban job discrimination in private employment, and one of only a handful in the South. No cities in Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina or South Carolina ban anti-gay discrimination in private employment, and only six jurisdictions in Florida, three in Kentucky, two in Virginia and one each in Louisiana and Texas ban such job bias. Activists who worked with Woolard on the legislation said they hope it can be a model for similar ordinances in the South and around the nation.

"Certainly other municipalities across the country have taken this step, but not that many, and we are definitely in the forefront and taking a leading role by doing this," said attorney Judith O'Kelley, who helped draft the legislation. "This is an appropriate role for Atlanta, not only because of the large gay population, but because we are one of the centers of the South and have traditionally been a place where people have looked for progressive civil rights legislation," she said.

Ordinance could face obstacles

Although Woolard's ordinances sailed through Monday's council meeting, they still face obstacles. Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell, who has been a strong supporter of gay rights in the past, has eight days from Monday to either veto the legislation or sign it into law. On Tuesday, Campbell's spokesperson would say only that he "is going to make a decision after a thorough evaluation and review" of the ordinances.

Monday's 14-1 majority is well beyond the 10 votes required to override a mayoral veto should one occur, provided all City Council members stick to their positions. But the objection raised by the one Council member who voted against the legislation could also prove a future problem. Council member Lee Morris, an attorney, voted against the legislation, even though he said he supported it in principle. "My 'no' vote was purely and simply based on the belief that we do not have as a city government the right to bestow a civil cause of action, period, and we don't have the power to endow the Municipal Court with jurisdiction over any cause of action," he said.

Woolard and the group that worked with her on the legislation - including Knox, O'Kelley, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund staff attorney Steve Scarborough and Georgia State University law professor Victor Flatt - all said they believe creating the right to file a civil lawsuit in the Municipal Court is in the city's jurisdiction. "I do not pretend that it is clear as a bell, but basically what we have is an ordinance drawn up very thoughtfully, based on a good faith interpretation of Georgia law," Scarborough said. "We are confident the courts would see it our way if it were ever challenged."

While Woolard said Council members did not raise objections related to the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity when she lobbied them on the bill, supporters acknowledged the city's past attempts at expanding gay rights have faced legal challenges.

Atlanta first passed domestic partner benefits in 1993, for example, but the benefits only became available this year - after two challenges that wound their way all the way to the state Supreme Court and a Superior Court fight forcing the state's insurance commissioner to approve the benefits. "Those challenges never came from inside the city government, and although we can't predict what someone else might do, we think we have taken a really big step in terms of codifying what we always say we stand for in the city of Atlanta," Woolard said.

Legislation aims for broad protections

In addition to banning job discrimination in private employment and creating the right to sue in Municipal Court, Woolard's legislation also accomplishes a broad range of other non-discrimination goals. The ordinance aims to:

---Streamline current city non-discrimination laws. ---Strengthen employment non-discrimination for categories like race and gender already covered by federal law, covering businesses with 10 or more employees instead of the 15 or more in federal law-although it does not cover government workers. ---Strengthen fair housing laws, which will also include sexual orientation and gender identity. ---Revives the city's dormant Human Relations Commission, giving the commission power to investigate alleged instances of discrimination. ---Codifies and increases avenues of enforcement of a previous administrative order by Mayor Campbell saying the city will only do business with contractors who do not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. ---Broaden protections against discrimination in public accommodations.

Attorneys said the previous city law, which did include sexual orientation, only applied to country club and nightclub type establishments. The new law would define public accommodations to include a wide variety of establishments typically thought of as public accommodations, including stores, hotels, restaurants and financial institutions. Should the Human Relations Commission find that a business that is a city contractor guilty of discrimination, it will be illegal for any city funds to be spent with that business except to finish existing contracts. The commission can also revoke an offender's city licenses.

By allowing discrimination complaints to be pursued in both Municipal Court and before the Human Relations Commission, the legislation allows two forms of redress that may suit different victims' needs, supporters explained. For example, New Orleans' private employment non-discrimination law allows only for redress through its Human Relations Commission, according to activists there. Adding the private right to action is part of a "second generation of gay rights laws" recently enacted in city's including Seattle and Los Angeles, Flatt said.

The Human Relations Commission cannot award monetary damages, but the Municipal Court can, Scarborough said. Although the court is not allowed to levy fines greater than $1,000, Scarborough said he does not believe the cap would apply to damages, since they go to the victim and not the government. While the Human Relations Commission would not be able to award monetary damages, it would be able investigate, mediate a settlement, issue an "order of enforcement," award payment of expenses including legal fees, and order the revocation of business licenses and barring from city contracts. Victims of alleged discrimination can file court complaints without going to the Human Relations Commission first, but they would not be allowed to sue if they have already reached a settlement through the commission, unless the terms of the settlement are not being met.