A big addition could be coming to the City of Salina’s affirmative action and equal opportunity clause.
The policy protects people’s race, sex and religion among other things when it comes to renting a house of expressing themselves in the workplace. The Kansas Equality Coalition would like to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list.
"We want to be an open community,” said Salina City Manager Jason Gage. “We want to welcome people into the community. We think it is good for business. We think its good for people in general. Both heterosexual and the LGBT community."
Gage says his office needs to take inventory on the impact this addition may make. Monday’s night’s two to 3 vote was to pass this along and revisit the issue in 90 days.
A few cities in Kansas already include sexual orientation in anti-discrimination policies.
The first was Lawrence in 1995, banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing and hiring.
Two others, Topeka and mission, followed suit and last November the issue came up in Hutchinson.City leaders there said they needed to do more research before discussing the issue. The Kansas equality coalition says it's still being studied.
