Advocate.com
The Palm Beach County, Fla., board of commissioners voted Tuesday to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on gender identity or expression, according to a press release from the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
Jeff Koons, board vice chairman, initiated the proposal to amend the county’s Equal Employment Ordinance and Fair Housing Ordinance at the request of the Human Rights Council. In late May, council president Rand Hoch requested that Koons take the lead in urging the county commissioners to amend the two nondiscrimination ordinances. “No one should be fired, harassed, or denied promotion simply because they don’t fit the stereotypes for masculinity or femininity,” Hoch told Koons at the time, according to the release.