Nashville Gov't To Ban Discrimination

The Metro Council is poised to take up a non-discrimination ordinance which will make it "unlawful for the metropolitan government to fail or refuse to hire or promote, or to discharge any individual, because of such individual’s race, religion, creed, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, color, age, and/or disability."

Megan Barry is one of the lead sponsors of this provision, which differs somewhat from the controversial 2003 proposed ordinance which failed in an 18 to 19 vote. For one, it ads "creed" as well as sexual orientation to the list of protected classes...so, if there were any White Supremacists who've been denied employment as of late, feel free to get that employment application ready.

Ultimately though, I don't think this will be anywhere near as controversial as it was in 2003. While there are some conservative members on the council, the fact is that in 6 years views have changed fairly dramatically on the issue of gay rights. Whereas Howard Dean was "extreme" for his state's position on civil unions, that position has now become rather standard fare by most Americans, including quite a few Republicans.

So, this will almost assuredly pass, and I'd expect by a large margin. Will it have a dramatic substantive impact on the Government? Not likely, seeing as the Mayor has already made it executive policy not to discriminate on orientation...but codifying it in law could give gays and lesbians a better sense of job security.

My hope is that sometime in the next couple years, we can expand this to support domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples. That would be a more substantive policy change, and would probably be more controversial.