Council adopted legislation expanding the city's existing nondiscrimination law that covers public accommodations to include transgender people.
The City of Cleveland said the ordinance removes language currently in the City Code that allows business owners and employers to determine what bathroom or facilities a transgender person may or may not use.
The current code said business owners or employers are allowed to deny a patron or employee access to bathrooms, showers, locker rooms, or dressing facilities even though they are consistent with the person's individual gender identity or expression.
City law also banned discrimination based on race, religion, gender, handicap, ethnicity and other protected classes.
The amended law adds gender identity or expression and brings the City Code in line with nondiscrimination protections of more than 150 cities across the nation.
The ordinance allows a person who has undergone or is undergoing gender transition to use the bathroom in a place of public accommodation or their workplace that matches the gender they live every day.
