Individual Rights and Dignity

I feel honored to sit on a public commission (Huntington Human Relations Commission), consisting of citizen volunteers, which is courageous enough to address an issue that is so meaningful and long overdue. If the Huntington City Council were to write a human relations ordinance with a blanket prohibition against discrimination but lacking specific protected categories, it would not be sufficient to protect all of our citizens. Therefore, our elected officials must make sure that the ordinance is all-inclusive, and that our fundamental, basic rights are for all citizens. There is no greater purpose for an elected official than to protect the safety and well-being of all citizens.

Diversity is important to our community. It is a strength and should not be feared. The City of Huntington has the momentous opportunity to be a leader in protecting the basic safety of all residents through progressive and inclusive ordinances. How sad that we have to write laws to protect living human beings. It is the right thing to do, but it is complicated by those who fear others who are different.

As chairperson of the Huntington Human Relations Commission, I have been authorized by a unanimous vote of the HHRC, during its meeting on Thursday, September 13, 2007, to recommend to the Huntington City Council that the city ordinance related to the HHRC be modified to include an additional protected class of “sexual orientation”. It is the hope of the HHRC that this matter be addressed by the council at the earliest possible date.

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When the first civil rights bill to follow the US civil war was debated in Congress, it was criticized for granting "special rights" to African-Americans. When the Civil Rights Act was debated in 1964, it was criticized because it would destroy the economic viability of companies and attack individual freedom of choice in hiring. It passed. Title VII guaranteed protection against discrimination in employment based on race, religion, gender, national origin, and disability. This applies to all companies with more than 15 employees. Non-profit religious organizations and the military demanded and received exemption from this law; they insisted that they be allowed to continue to discriminate. However, the Civil Rights Act gave no protection for people based on their sexual orientation.

When it's your life, you want protection. It's really not very exciting stuff, except if it's your life and rights that are being denied. Under current law and policy, persons in Huntington can be discriminated against, solely because of their real or perceived sexual orientation. Those individuals who are victims have no legal recourse when they face such unfair practices. It is a good decision for the Huntington City Council to have a nondiscrimination policy by acting to modify the current HHRC ordinance to include "sexual orientation" as an additional protected class. Such an ordinance does not promote an alternative lifestyle. It doesn't push hiring quotas or any type of affirmative action. It just says that persons cannot be discriminated against when buying or renting a house, or applying for a job. or doing all the things other citizens are entitled to do.

The argument has been rightly made that civil rights for all people are addressed in laws already on the books, but that legislation is not comprehensive enough for the increasingly pluralistic community in which we live. Federal law prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion or national origin. Obviously, at one time Congress felt those "special protections" were necessary to be spelled out as a reminder that all people have equal rights.

If one believes in the premise of liberty, then one must believe in all constitutional liberties, including that of personal identity. Protection from discrimination based upon one's gender, disability or sexual orientation is just as essential as protection from discrimination based on religion, race, national origin or ethnicity. This is a simple issue of justice and human rights that, unfortunately, needs to be addressed legislatively.

With focus on individual rights and individual dignity, anti-discrimination laws are inherently compatible with democracy. Such laws aim to provide individuals with the protections any person may need at one time or another while endeavoring to undertake a life with dignity.