SUTTON, W.Va. — The Sutton City Council voted and passed a measure Thursday to prohibit to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing, and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“Now that marriage equality is the law of the land in the Mountain State, LGBT West Virginians can be legally ‘married on Sunday and fired on Monday’ simply because of who they are,” said Andrew Schneider, the Executive Director of Fairness West Virginia. “Because the West Virginia State Legislature has failed to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the state’s Human Rights Law, city and town ordinances are the only means local communities have to protect their LGBT citizens from discrimination.”
Sutton is now one of six West Virginia cities to have passed such a measure. No such provisions exist on a state level.
Fairness West Virginia has been working with local businesses, religious communities and local leaders since 2009 pushing nondiscrimination policies.