Richmond City Council's governmental operations committee has moved along a change to the city's personnel policy that would extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT employees.
The change seemed a no-brainer, says 1st District Councilman Jon Baliles, though personally indicating he'd "prefer the language would be that we can't discriminate for any reason."
Because of Virginia's Dillon Rule adherence, the new policy will come with a caveat, crafted by the city attorney, saying that it applies only so long as it does not conflict with state law, says 6th District Councilwoman Ellen Robertson. "We're kind of overstepping where the [city] charter is right now, but we feel to the extent we can operate within the confines that we have with the charter, we would like it to be stated we would not discriminate based on sexual orientation."
The proposal faces the full council soon.
