AGENDA #14a(1)

 

TO:                  Mayor and Council

FROM:            Councilmember Mark Kleinschmidt

DATE:             March 22, 2004

RE:                   A Petition to expand the protections offered by Chapel Hill’s non-discrimination

     policies, and

 

Tonight I offer three petitions for consideration by the Council.  Although they are separate measures, they each relate to concerns expressed to my by members of our local gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.  The concerns that have been shared with me relate to incidents that have occurred in our community and the way in which our community should respond to events occurring now across the country.  I hope to have your support

 

I.                    A Petition to Expand the Protections Offered by Chapel Hill’s Non-discrimination Policies and Ordinances to Include Gender Identity and Gender Expression.

 

I offer this petition in response to a recent incident that demonstrated that access to our town’s services was constructively denied to certain individuals due to differences involving gender identity and gender expression.  I have nothing but the highest regards for Chapel Hill management’s response to this incidents, but rather than rely on the good graces and good intentions of management, this Petition seeks to encode this community’s dissatisfaction with discrimination based on gender expression and gender identity and to clarify specifically that it is improper to deny services in this manner.  As a corollary, I petition Council to expand the entirety of its discrimination policies to include this protection and that all current and new staff receive training regarding this change.

 

II.                 A Petition to Amend Chapel Hill’s Legislative Agenda to Add a Request that the North Carolina General Assembly Repeal the So-Called “Defense of Marriage Act.”

 

I offer this petition as a response to many individuals who have contacted me from Chapel Hill, our neighboring communities and even from across the state regarding the extraordinary events occurring nationwide related to creating marriage equality for same-sex couples.  The objective of this legislative agenda item would be to eliminate any hurdle for couples who may become legally married in other jurisdictions in this country to be able to return to our community and be recognized as a married couple.  I also petition the Town of Chapel Hill to recognize marriage licenses received in other jurisdictions as evidence necessary to qualify such individuals for equal access to employment benefits and our Town’s domestic partner registry.  And that such a license will free any individual from having to produce any other “evidence” of the permanency of their relationship.

 

III.               A Petition to Clarify Chapel Hill’s Non-discrimination Policies to Change References of “Affectional Preference” to “Sexual Orientation.”

 

In preparing this Petition, I have noticed that “Affectional Preference” is the language that purports to protect individuals from discrimination based on sexual orientation.  I petition the Council to eliminate this reference to “preference” and recognize the immutability of sexual orientation by explicitly referencing sexual orientation in every place affectional preference occurs in our Town Code and policies.