Pinellas to consider extending protections to transgender people
Anna M. Phillips, August 5, 2013 7:00pm
http://www.tampabay.com/news/localgovernment/pinellas-to-consider-extending-protections-to-transgender-people/2134953Five years after they banned housing and employment discrimination against gays and lesbians, Pinellas County commissioners are considering extending the law's protections to include transgender people.
On Tuesday, the board is set to vote on whether to hold a public hearing to amend its human rights ordinance, replacing the word "sex" with "gender." The move, which several commissioners said has a majority of the board's support, would make transgender people — those who identify with a different gender than the one listed on their birth certificates — a protected group, a status they already have in cities such as Gulfport and Dunedin, and in a handful of other counties in Florida.
The proposed change would give transgender people the means to protest being fired from a job or denied housing because of discrimination. It would also permit them to use public accommodations such as bathrooms and locker rooms designated for the sex with which they identify.
