The Manhattan City Commission reviewed a draft ordinance that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the City’s list of protected classes.
“We provided them (Commission) with them with a series of definitions,” said Deputy City Manager, Jason Hilgers, “in addition to identifying employment, housing and public accommodations as the areas where we would stress were unlawful discriminatory practices would occur.”
Commissioner Usha Reddi said Tuesday the ordinance simply changes the City’s policy.
“A Policy’s not going to change how people feel about each other…but we can make people feel protected.”
The latest proposal includes a hearing officer who would adjudicate complaints of discrimination for cases in which a resolution couldn’t be reached between the complainant and respondent.
Commissioner Wynn Butler is supportive of the ordinance as long as the City’s Human Rights and Services Board isn’t a part of the adjudication process.
“That’s politically appointed people and by definition is biased. That board’s going to be biased, and I don’t want them making a decision,” Butler said. “That’s why I’ve always pushed for the Municipal Court to be the best solution, though I think what the City Staff came up with, with a hearing officer might be workable.”
Hilgers expects to bring a first reading of an official ordinance to the Commission soon, but full implementation will take a while.
“We need for formalize this ordinance. There’s an education process that we’ll need to undertake and we’ll just have to gauge just how quickly and at what time they (Commission) want it to take effect.”
