During the City Council Meeting of Monday, December 2nd, the Council voted unanimously to add a Human Rights Act to the municipal ordinances.

Council Member Patrick Paschall, Ward 3, sponsor of the Act, said, “This is a clear message to the community that LGBT people are fully welcome in Hyattsville.  It is also a signal to our legislators at the State and County levels: we want to see the full range of LGBT protections enshrined in state law that all other protected classes receive.”

“The City has a long history of being LGBT-friendly,” Paschall continued.  “We want to send the message that our community’s intention is to be a place of diversity and inclusion.”

City residents Joe Luebke and Tom Wright said that, “This legislation legitimizes what we already had assumed - that Hyattsville is committed to the letter to be a diverse place for all citizens to live and work, void of any forms of discrimination.”

The Human Rights Act strengthens existing protections for employment, housing, and all manner of public accommodations.  This will extend protections to transgender people for the first time.  Individuals discriminated against in violation of the act may bring a lawsuit to seek redress.

Becoming the first municipality in Prince George’s County to pass the non-discrimination law, the City of Hyattsville joins Montgomery County, Howard County, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City.  The City is the first smaller municipality to extend non-discrimination protections on the basis of gender identity.

The first reading of the Act took place on November 18.  The second reading occurred on December 2.  The Act will be in effect 20 days later, on December 22.  Read the full text of the Act here.