Morgantown council votes unanimously to add LGBT protections

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Morgantown has added protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents to a human rights ordinance.

“The only thing I’d say is this simply verbalized the kind of community I really hope that we are,” said Mayor Bill Kawecki. “I’m happy that’s the case because that’s the kind of community I want to live in.”

Sexual orientation, gender identity, familial status, and veteran status were added on second reading Tuesday.

Morgantown had passed resolutions in support of same-sex marriage and a statewide bill banning discrimination against LGBT people in employment, housing and public accommodations. It also had a Human Rights Commission, charged with working toward making Morgantown “an inclusive city,” according to code.

The Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT rights advocacy organization, has noted that Morgantown’s human rights code lacked LGBT protection in years past, while examining the codes of several of the cities in the state.

In 2015, then-Mayor Marti Shamberger noted that Morgantown had a nondiscrimination ordinance but directed further questions about LGBT protection to Human Rights Commission Chairwoman Jan Derry, who did not return subsequent calls.

Also Tuesday, City Council gave the Human Rights Commission the authority to enforce the provision of the code prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations.

It also added definitions and clearly outlined examples of discriminatory practices, including refusing housing, employment and public accommodations on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Kawecki said about 45 people spoke in support of the ordinance Tuesday and about three spoke against it. He said two were from out of town.

The seven-member City Council, including five new members, unanimously voted to amend the ordinance.

Kawecki said he believed the Human Rights Commission had been working on the code for two years.

“They wouldn’t have been deterred by anything,” he said.

Morgantown is the 11th city in West Virginia to enact an ordinance extending protections to LGBT residents, according to Fairness West Virginia, an LGBT civil rights advocacy organization. Charles Town, Shepherdstown, Martinsburg, Wheeling and Lewisburg adopted legal protections for LGBT residents in 2016. The number of West Virginia municipalities with those protections doubled last year.

There are no such protections for LGBT people in West Virginia state law or at the federal level, the group said.

“This decision means that four out of the five largest cities in the state are now inclusive communities that ensure all residents may live and work free from discrimination,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director of Fairness West Virginia. “This sends a strong message to the state Legislature that West Virginia is more than ready to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s nondiscrimination law.”