A Philadelphia City Council committee this week held a hearing on a bill that seeks to change city contracts to stipulate that contractors cannot discriminate based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The measure, introduced by City Councilman-at-Large Bill Greenlee (D), was voted out of the Law and Government committee June 2 and is expected to be voted on by the full council next week.
Greenlee’s bill would amend a section of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter that currently only mandates that race, color, religion and national origin are listed as classes protected from discrimination on the actual city contract documents. Sexual orientation and gender-identity discrimination are prohibited in the Home Rule Charter but are not included among the classes that must be listed on contracts.
“In talking to the administration over time, this language apparently goes back to the 1950s, so we thought it was necessary to update it a bit,” Greenlee said.
Rue Landau, chair of the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission, noted that the contracts, which are drawn up the city’s Law Department, often include nondiscrimination statements that reference the Home Rule Charter classes and also add in classes included in the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance — such as sexual orientation and gender identity — but Greenlee’s bill will streamline that process.
“What this would do would mandate that the language of the law is the same as the contract language that’s often used,” Landau said. “The Law Department was including protected classes like sexual orientation and gender identity even though they didn’t match the statute.”
In addition to sexual orientation and gender identity, sex, age and disability would also be included as protected classes.
The bill originally used the word “gender” instead of “sex,” but Landau testified during the hearing about the difference between the two, and the measure was amended.
Greenlee noted that the current language also includes the word “his” before the list of protected classes, which would also be taken out to modernize the text.
Greenlee said that while he hasn’t seen many instances of LGBT discrimination in city contracting, the measure is an attempt to be “pro-active” and “catch a problem before it develops.”
Landau called the bill “great news.”
“It will basically codify what we’ve been attempting to do in contracts for years. We’re really excited about this.”
Per city law, an amendment to the Home Rule Charter is a multi-step process: City Council must first approve the measure and then it needs to be posed to voters as a ballot question and receive two-thirds of the vote.
For three weeks prior to the Nov. 2 election, the ballot question will need to be published in one newspaper in Philadelphia as well as in the Legal Intelligencer.
Mayor Nutter will also have to issue a proclamation about the ballot question, which will be published in at least two newspapers of general circulation and in the Legal Intelligencer for three consecutive weeks within the month preceding the election.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].