Queerguru always likes to acknowledge and celebrate all positive news for the LGBTQ Community in our home state of Florida.
Today it is a real victory as the agency that enforces state civil rights law has affirmed that discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal. The Florida Commission on Human Relations (FCHR) has issued a notice formally announcing its intent to fully implement the US Supreme Court’s ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County and investigate claims of anti-LGBTQ discrimination.
Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida has stressed “This is a huge win and cause for celebration statewide. Any LGBTQ person anywhere in Florida who experiences discrimination now has a path to pursue justice,” said . The U.S. Supreme Court declared that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is illegal and the agency that enforces civil rights protections for all Floridians has made it clear they will follow the law of the land.”
Support for LGBTQ protections has grown steadily in Florida where more than 60% of the population lives in areas where local protections include sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination provisions.
More than 83% of Americans support laws that protect LGBTQ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, and housing. In fact, the Florida Competitive Workforce Act, bipartisan legislation aimed at updating Florida civil rights statute to prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community, has been among the most co-sponsored legislation in Tallahassee for three years in a row.
The move by FCHR comes on the heels of President Biden’s sweeping Executive Order implementing these nondiscrimination protections across federal agencies and is further evidence of the dramatic swing in public support for LGBTQ equality. In a first for over 800,000 LGBTQ Floridians, the decision provides those who experience discrimination an official state channel through which to file a claim and affords them the full protection of Florida’s civil rights laws.
