UPDATE: March 8
The Kokomo City Council has preliminarily voted to expand civil rights protections to LGBT individuals.
The council's 5-4 vote came after a contentious meeting.
The ordinance will receive a second reading March 14. If the council approves it again, Mayor Greg Goodnight says he’ll sign it into law.
More than a dozen Indiana cities have adopted similar protections, with many taking action since last spring’s uproar over Indiana’s religious objections law.
EARLIER:
Kokomo could be the next Indiana city to strengthen civil rights for its LGBT community. Mayor Greg Goodnight used his State of the City speech to call for an anti-discrimination law including protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He says a draft ordinance is already being written.
“Some members of our city council have already been public with their support for extending civil rights protection to include sexual orientation and gender identity,” Goodnight says. “That is why I commend this council’s commitment to enact legislation that would amend our community’s human rights municipal code.”
Nearly two dozen city and county governments around Indiana already have LGBT civil rights laws on the books.
Evansville became the latest city to adopt LGBT protections when its city council voted on Monday to authorize the city's Human Rights Commission to investigate claims of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Goodnight says he expects his city to pass an LGBT law if the legislature doesn't.
“This is a smart thing to do for our economy,” he says. “This is the best thing to do for our community and this is the right thing to do for every one of our own neighbors.”
All statewide LGBT rights bills have been killed at the Statehouse so far.