The changes expanded the city's Human Relations Ordinance to outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression, which includes those who identify as a different sex than at birth. "All of the complaints about the bad effects of the ordinance when it was under consideration were in fact much ado about nothing," said Brendan Mahoney, an attorney who shepherded the drafting of the law when he was Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton's liaison on LGBT issues. cities and counties that have adopted similar civil-rights laws. They said Phoenix's relatively controversy-free experience mirrors the more than 190 other U.S. Supporters said the outcome shows the ordinance isn't the extremist piece of legislation opponents had warned it would be. There have been no lawsuits filed, no reported bathroom incidents, and city officials haven't found evidence of unlawful discrimination in any of the complaints the city received. Some said they had been fired at work or thrown out of apartments because of their sexual orientation.īut more than 17 months after it was approved, Phoenix's non-discrimination law has had little direct impact.
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LGBT residents recounted their everyday experiences with discrimination. There were yelling and tears, and the ideological divide grew even wider.Ĭonservative groups and religious traditionalists raised fears that the measure could lead to a tsunami of lawsuits against small businesses or allow predatory men to enter women's bathrooms under the guise that they are transgender.
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Advocates worry state lawmakers or the courts could try to unravel the ordinance%27s protectionsįew Phoenix City Council meetings have matched the drama and vitriol that filled the Orpheum Theatre more than a year ago as leaders approved an anti-discrimination ordinance with broad civil-rights protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.Īt the time, opponents and supporters of the law spoke at length about its potentially sweeping consequences.City officials haven%27t found evidence of unlawful discrimination against gays or lesbians in any of the cases they reviewed.Phoenix approved an anti-discrimination ordinance with broad civil-rights protections for LGBT residents.