Haverford became the 19th jurisdiction in the state this week to offer discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Haverford Township Board of Commissioners voted 5-4 Feb. 14 to approve its LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance on second reading. As it passed by a 5-3 vote with one abstention at last month’s commissioners’ meeting, the measure is now adopted into law.
Haverford is technically the 20th municipal governing body to have approved an LGBT-inclusive ordinance: The Hatboro Council did so last fall, but that measure was vetoed by the town’s mayor.
The Haverford measure, introduced in the fall by Commissioner Larry Holmes, bans LGBT bias — as well as discrimination based on a number of other characteristics, including race, religion, age, ancestry and disability — in housing, employment, commercial property and public accommodations.
The ordinance will also create a human-relations commission, consisting of volunteers appointed by the township commission, to investigate complaints of discrimination. Under the measure, the commission is authorized to hand down fines of up to $5,000 for violations of the law.
A working group made several changes to the ordinance since last month’s vote, including increasing the number of members of the human-relations commission from seven to 11, and lowering the fine from the proposed $10,000.
The measure saw bipartisan support, with Holmes being joined by Democrats Dan Siegel and Rob Trumbull, as well as Republicans Bill Wechsler and Mario Oliva. The four remaining Republicans on the panel voted against it.
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission chair Stephen Glassman, who worked closely with the group on the language in the bill, said the measure is “very strong and very good.”
“It’s really as strong as you can get at the local level in a state that has not yet passed this at the state level,” Glassman said.
While there were some detractors who spoke at the meeting, supporters outnumbered opponents, and Holmes said the discourse that preceded the vote was largely positive.
Holmes noted that the four commissioners who voted against the measure expressed concerns about such issues as redundancy with state law, not necessarily with the basic tenets of the ordinance.
In fact, the commissioners unanimously approved a resolution following the vote that urged the state legislature and governor to adopt a statewide LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measure.
Holmes said the commission will likely begin advertising for candidates for the human-relations commission by next month’s township commission meeting and, from then, will begin interviews.
Holmes said that much of the credit for the new law should go to the many township residents whose stories made an impact on their elected officials.
“There were a lot of people who made a point to thank me for sponsoring the ordinance, and I want to make the point back to those folks that this only happened because people opened their lives to us,” he said. “They talked about their own experiences and shared personal things at meetings and before the public. Those are the true heroes of this ordinance, not just the politicians sitting at a board meeting. The outcome of this was really positive, and I hope that Haverford Township is setting a good example for the rest of Pennsylvania.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].