County Council of Alleghency County, PA Debates Passage of Anti-Discrimination Law that Includes Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression and Identity

The Allegheny County Council is considering a law that would create a Human Relations Commission to investigate and prosecute employment and housing discrimination for a variety of protected classes, including gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation.

A drafting snafu relating to a religious exemption appears to be endangering the passage of the bill, however. Although religious exemptions for LGBT classes are common, the particular way this one is drafted is very concerning.

The problem is an exception that the Act carves out in its definition of an "Employer," which provides:

For the purposes of this Article, the definition of "employer" shall not include any
religious organization, regardless of number of employees or County funding,
provided that such religious organization provides documentary evidence of its
religious nature to the Human Relations Commission of the County of Allegheny,
and avers in writing to the Commission that gender, sexual orientation, or gender
identity constitute grounds for employment decisions under the fundamental
tenets of the religion in question.

The problem with this definition is that it appears to permit religious organizations to discriminate against all classes (sex, race, color, etc.) just because its religious tenants conflict with hiring an LGBT person.

The Post-Gazette has an article and the Council's website has the full text of the law.

The Council's debate for the law is tonight at 5:00 pm, and has a live-webcast here.