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Lawmakers introduce bill prohibiting LGBTQ discrimination

LGBTQ community
Posted at 1:30 PM, Oct 17, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-17 13:30:44-04

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill to forbid employment and housing discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community.

The latest iteration of the Ohio Fairness Act was introduced by Democratic Rep. Michael Skindell and Republican Rep. Brett Hillyer on Wednesday.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the bill’s unveiling comes about two weeks after a request from minority Democrats to extend employment protections to gay House employees was denied by House Speaker Larry Householder.

More than two dozen Ohio communities, including Columbus, have adopted LGBTQ discrimination protections but that only covers about a fourth of the state’s population.

A similar bill has been filed every session of legislation since 2003 but has only won passage in the House in 2009, before it died in the Senate.