LGBT advocates are still waiting to see if a bill to protect LGBT state employees from job discrimination will get a hearing in this year’s legislative session, but they don’t want supporters to wait to contact lawmakers about the issue.
“If we do get a hearing, it is likely that we will have less than 24 hours notice,” Jeff Graham, executive director for Georgia Equality, said Feb. 26.
State Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates) reintroduced the Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act, HB 427, on Feb. 20. The bill, first introduced in 2011, would add “sexual orientation” to protected statuses for public employment in Georgia.
A bill to protect LGBT employees of the state of Georgia from job discrimination was introduced March 30 in the Georgia House of Representatives.
The Georgia Fair Employment Practices Bill, HB 630, is sponsored by state Rep. Karla Drenner (D-Avondale Estates), who is Georgia's first openly gay state lawmaker and one of two lesbians currently serving in the state House.
“We have actually been working on the development of this bill since last fall and we did approach Rep. Drenner to seek her support as the lead sponsor,” said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, the state’s largest LGBT political group.