Dallas City Council to vote today on adding gender identity and expression

Houston’s Prop #1 would have established nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people in the city, including the protection of trans community to use the bathroom appropriate to their gender identity.

“SEXUAL ORIENTATION means an individual’s real or perceived orientation as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual or an individual’s real or perceived gender identity”, the code says.

The City of Dallas Quality of Life Committee approved changes to the City’s anti-discrimination policy during a meeting Monday morning.

“Today, the Dallas City Council took action to strengthen protections for transgender Americans and reaffirm their commitment to equality and justice for every person”, said HRC President Chad Griffin. The council will also vote to add language explicitly allowing a person to determine their gender based on their perception of their gender.

The Democratic leaders in Texas cities such as Dallas and Houston have been trying to extend civil rights protections, which are not guaranteed under state law, to LGBT people.

Medrano’s proposed changes also encourage all entities within a city – including those exempt from the policy – to recognize and respect the rights of LGBT citizens.

The rewrite removed an exemption from the Dallas city charter that said property owners could deny renting rooms to same-sex couples when a housing facility contains a common bathroom, kitchen or similar facilities that would be shared by all occupants. The ordinance had previously included lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

The ordinance goes before a vote of the Dallas city council tomorrow. And it would make it illegal to deny housing to someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.