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WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh recognizes that our nation's current anti-discrimination laws fail to protect all American employees, as it is still legal in 29 states to fire someone for being gay, lesbian or bisexual, and in 33 states it is still legal to fire someone for being transgender or gender nonconforming; and
WHEREAS, while 73% of voters support employment protections for LGBT Americans, 90% of voters nation-wide falsely believe that federal employment non-discrimination protections already exist for LGBT Americans; and
WHEREAS, 94% of the largest companies in America explicitly prohibit sexual orientation-based discrimination and 78% prohibit gender identity-based discrimination; and
WHEREAS, despite the support of voters and corporate America for equal protection of LGBT and non-LGBT employees, the Williams Institute reports that 42% of LGBT people have experienced employment discrimination due to their sexual orientation at some point in their lives and approximately 78% of transgender people have experienced harassment and mistreatment at work due to their gender identity; and
WHEREAS, the City of Pittsburgh protects all employees from discrimination because of sexual orientation and gender identity through Section ยง 659.02 of the Pittsburgh Code; and
WHEREAS, The Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013, (S. 815) is federal civil rights legislation making it illegal to fire, refuse to hire, or refuse to promote employees because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and is currently before the US Senate; and
WHEREAS, the Council of the City of Pittsburgh applauds the Senate Committee on Health, Labor, Education and Pensions for its bipartisan support of the bill, passing it 15-7 after only a few minutes of discussion, with all Democrats and three Republicans voting in support; and
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NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that it is the will of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh that all American employees be judged by their qualifications and work performance rather than their sexual orientation or gender identity;
AND, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh urges our federal legislators to pass S. 815, The Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013, to protect all American employees from sexual-orientation and gender identity-based discrimination;