Lafayette looks to add gender ID protections
Lafayette would be the 19th community in Indiana to offer protection against discrimination based on gender identity, based on a proposal the Lafayette City Council saw for the first time Wednesday night.
The ordinance would add gender identity and veterans status to nine other protected classes — including sexual orientation — already in the Lafayette Human Relations Ordinance. The ordinance covers discrimination complaints tied to employment, public accommodations and housing.
Mayor Tony Roswarski said he backed the measure. He said it grew out of a request in early 2016 — as other states and communities wrestled with gender-specific bathroom restrictions — from the city’s Human Relations Commission to offer specific protections for the transgender community and veterans.
Roswarski also said the move was bound to get some blowback over the next month, as the ordinance moves toward a vote.
“Of course, we always work here to be a warm, welcoming community,” Roswarski said. “And we’ve had a human relations ordinance for quite some time. But this is an issue that we see throughout the community and throughout the country, and we want to see that we address it here and that people know they’re not going to be discriminated against for this. … Yes, we think it’s time to put it on paper and have an official vote on it.”
Lafayette added protections for gays and lesbians to the human relations ordinance in 1993. That provision survived a repeal attempt in 1996.
Randy Studt, president of the Lafayette Human Relations Commission, said the move to add protections for the transgender community came after watching the state struggle with a more comprehensive civil rights law that included lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Hoosiers. Studt said it also came after watching a number of cities and counties in the state write broad, local protections in the wake of debate over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. RFRA was seen as a way for those with strong religious beliefs a way to discriminate against the LGBT community.
According to a list kept by Freedom Indiana, a pro-LGBT lobbying group, 18 communities have anti-discrimination protections that include sexual orientation and gender identity. West Lafayette is among those.
“The attempt here is to simply get us up to speed with other cities and to also cover a population that, obviously, has had harassment in the past,” Studt said.
Skye Brown is program director of Trans Lafayette, a support group for transgender community. Brown said the group’s meetings draw anywhere from 10 to 20 people and about 300 people follow on social media or are part of the group’s email list.
“I really appreciate that they’re trying to take a proactive approach to protecting people,” Brown said. “I think there are cities across Indiana and the U.S. that have already started implementing those kinds of protections. So it’s really fantastic that the city is trying to do the same here.”
Brown said there are situations when transgendered people in Lafayette perceive they’ve been fired based on their gender identity. But Brown said there isn’t much of a recourse in city or state code.
“I think there are a lot of loopholes in the system and not a lot of protection, so, yeah, I think those abuses of power are really commonplace,” Brown said. “Because we don’t have many pre-emptive policies out there, people get scared of doing anything about it and just endure it until they can get into another situation. So they have to bear the brunt of the violence or harassment or the terrible power dynamic that they can’t get out of.”
The Rev. Jeff Mikels, pastor at Lafayette Community Church, is acting president of the Tippecanoe Evangelical Association of Ministers and Ministries. Mikels said his group hoped to be part of the conversation.
"Gender identity, like matters of faith, is a deeply personal thing,” Mikels said. “Those who don't measure up to social norms can face inner turmoil and external harassment, but we believe Jesus wants them to know how loved they are. The faith community is wrestling with how to show that love and also honor our deeply held convictions. More than anything, we want to be in conversation with people in the transgender community so that we can more fully understand them and learn how better to show them the love of Jesus.”
The Lafayette Human Relations Ordinance also covers complaints based on race, sex, religion, color, handicap, familial status, national origin and age. Complaints made to the Human Relations Commission go to mediation, though the ordinance allows for fines of up to $300.
A first vote could come during the council’s meeting Monday. To pass, the ordinance would need two votes, with the second coming in September.
Contact Dave Bangert atdbangert@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
If you go
The Lafayette City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Lafayette City Hall, 20 N. Sixth St.