Updated at 5:33 p.m. Wednesday to include more details on the ordinances.
The Arlington City Council on Tuesday unanimously passed an ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity for housing, employment and public services.
The provisions also extended employment and public service protection based on race, religion, national origin, sex and disability. Housing discrimination against those groups was already prohibited.
The vote came after two people spoke in support of the ordinance, including Rev. Kevin Johnson of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, who said a landlord could refuse to renew his lease because he is gay.
“Discrimination is not just an abstract concept,” he said. “It affects real people’s real lives.”
Under the new provisions, an employer, public service business or housing entity cannot discriminate against people for sexual orientation or gender identity. Doing so can result in a lawsuit filed in the name of the city.
People can notify the city of a potential violation by filing a complaint, which the city will investigate. If it cannot be resolved with a recommended conciliation process, the complaint will be turned over to a state or federal agency, according to city documents.
A complaint must be filed within 90 days of the offense.
Prior to the vote, DeeJay Johannessen told the council that in 1998 he and his then-partner were denied a lease because the apartment complex did not allow two people of the same sex to rent a one-bedroom apartment.
Since then, conditions have improved for the LGBT community, said Johannessen, who is CEO of the HELP Center for LGBT Health and Wellness in Arlington.
“But they’re not perfect,” he added.
In the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index, which scores U.S. cities on LGBT-friendly local policies, laws and services, Arlington received a score of 63 in 2020, up from 22 in 2015. Dallas and Fort Worth received top scores of 100 in 2020.
“Passage of this ordinance is not going to magically make discrimination disappear in Arlington,” Johannessen said. “But what it will do is put in writing that in Arlington, Texas, the American Dream City, discrimination is not OK.”
