Equality Bills Introduced

by: WV26003

Mon Jan 24, 2011 at 06:52:40 AM EST

There is no reason to make this a lengthy diary. It is merely informative.

Three equality bills have been introduced in this Session of the WV Legislature:

HB2045 (Doyle, Brown, Fleischauer, Marshall, Michael, Moore):

The purpose of this bill is to add "sexual orientation" to the categories covered by the Human Rights Act, prohibiting discrimination in employment and places of public accommodations. This bill also adds "age" and "sexual orientation" to the categories covered by the Fair Housing Act prohibiting discrimination in housing. It also defines "sexual orientation" as "heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression, whether actual or perceived".

SB226 (McCabe, Snyder, Wells, Klempa, Kessler):

The purpose of this bill is to add "sexual orientation" to the categories covered by the Human Rights Act prohibiting discrimination in employment and places of public accommodations. This bill also provides clarification as to an exemption from the "sexual orientation" employment-based proscriptions of this bill for "religious institutions" and offers, for the purposes of this article, a definition thereof. This bill also adds "age" and "sexual orientation" to the categories covered by the Fair Housing Act prohibiting discrimination in housing. It defines "sexual orientation" as "heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity, whether actual or perceived."

HB2704 (Poore):

The purpose of this bill is to add to the definition of harassment, intimidation or bullying and require a child to attend two months of counseling provided by a school if he or she is found to be bullying a fellow student. This bill also prescribes punishment for failure to comply with the counseling requirements.