Tempe votes to add protections for LGBT, veteran communities
Aug 26, 2014, 9:07 PM | Updated: Aug 27, 2014, 2:14 pm
PHOENIX — Tempe voters made a landmark decision Tuesday for both the city’s veteran and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities.
Tempe became the first city in Arizona to include sexual orientation as a protected class from workplace discrimination in its charter.
“We’re the city on the hill in some ways,” Tempe City Councilman Kolby Granville said. “We’re the city that I think others are going to look to, not just in Arizona, but in the rest of the United States.”
When Proposition 475 passed Tuesday, the city of Tempe made a historic change to its charter, according to Granville.
“[That would] change the constitution to include LGBT to the usual list of things you can’t discriminate against, as it relates to employees,” Granville said.
The proposition also added veteran status to the list of protected classes. Granville said the amendment has been a longtime coming for many gay, lesbian and transgender residents of Tempe.
“I think we’re the right city for it, and I think this is the right time for it,” he said.
