Dunedin ordinance widen to include sexual orientation, gender identification

TampaBay.com – By Theresa Blackwell, Times Staff Writer

Dunedin – When a team of African-American police officers came down from Chicago 20 or 25 years ago to compete in the Highland Games tug-of-war, a local restaurant refused to serve them, City Attorney John Hubbard said.

So Dunedin adopted an ordinance that requires businesses open to the public like restaurants, hotels and amusement venues to give equal access to their facilities regardless of race, color, religion, ancestry, sex or national origin.

Now the city is looking to expand the ordinance to prohibit discrimination in two more categories: sexual orientation and gender identification or expression.