ACLU of Utah Applauds Proposed Salt Lake City Non-Discrimination Ordinance

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org

Salt Lake City, UT – The ACLU of Utah has sent a letter to Mayor Becker and the Salt Lake City Council supporting the Non Discrimination Ordinance proposed by the Mayor. The letter was in response to a call for public comments on the proposed ordinance.

The guarantee of Equal Rights to all in Utah is at the root of the ACLU of Utah’s work and as a result the organization has frequently represented LGBT clients in lawsuits to assure equal treatment under the law and has worked at the legislature to support the introduction of statewide legislation to prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The ACLU of Utah, through the complaints that are regularly received from Utahns and from reports like the recent Salt Lake City Human Rights Discrimination Report, recognizes that discrimination against the LGBT community does exist in our city. We believe that laws should be in place to restrict the ability for discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity.

The ACLU of Utah also encourages the Mayor and City Council, while drafting the ordinance, to take into account the business community includes many “small employers” which should be included in the ordinance and that there should be a method of tracking statistics once the ordinance is implemented.

The ACLU of Utah looks forward to reviewing the ordinance once it is drafted and know that its implementation would improve the lives of many residents of Salt Lake City.

To read the ACLU of Utah’s public comments sent to Mayor Becker and the City Council please download a pdf file at: www.acluutah.orgCommentsProposedSLCNonDiscriminationOrdinance.pdf