Philadelphia City Council last week approved a bill that strengthens the city’s nondiscrimination law.
On March 10, Council gave a unanimous nod to Councilman Bill Greenlee’s measure to revamp the language in the LGBT-inclusive Fair Practices Ordinance and strengthen penalties against discrimination.
Mark McDonald, spokesperson for Mayor Nutter, said the mayor will be “proud” to sign the bill, which he is scheduled to do March 24.
Greenlee introduced the bill last month, and it passed out of committee with unanimous approval in early March.
The measure will give the law its first major overhaul since its inception in 1951. Greenlee explained that while numerous amendments have been made since that time — such as the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as classes protected from discrimination — many of those changes were not consistent throughout the legislation. Likewise, the language often was not uniform with state and federal laws, which Greenlee’s bill remedies.
It also heightens the penalties the Human Relations Commission, which investigates and adjudicates discrimination complaints, can assign from $300 to up to $2,000.
In updating definitions of various terms in the law, it also facilitates the process for same-sex couples wishing to register as “life partners,” lessening the number of months the couple needs to be together from six to three, and the number of documents needed to verify the relationship from three to two.
Greenlee said he saw no opposition to the measure as it quickly wended its way through Council, which he said is a bit unusual.
“Something usually this big does have a bit more discussion, but I think the issues here were pretty clear cut,” he said. “We’re dealing with antidiscrimination, with including more people protected under this law and increasing the penalties so the message is sent that folks can’t do this. It’s hard to be against something like this.”
Greenlee worked closely with the Human Relations Commission for about a year on crafting of the legislation.
McDonald said the mayor was supportive of the measure throughout its crafting and tenure in Council, and noted its success was a collaborative effort.
“This was a bill that the administration worked very, very closely with Councilman Greenlee on, Rue Landau from the Human Relations Commission and her staff, as well as the commission chair, Kay Yu,” he said. “This law hadn’t really been revamped in a comprehensive way for a number of generations, and this strengthens the enforcement tools and expands the coverage, so the mayor is very pleased that Council worked so expeditiously on getting this passed.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].