Cleveland Rocks

The Cleveland Ohio City Council passed a new ordinance on Monday which adds transgendered people to it's list of those protected under anti-discrimination laws. There are already existing city codes which prohibit businesses from denying jobs or housing to anyone, for reasons of age, race, religion or sexual orientation. It has taken over a year for Cleveland area LGBT activists to get this new law passed.

And, in more good news, the vote to pass this new ordinance was unanimous vote. Cleveland has been working hard to prove itself as a more tolerant and accepting city for the LGBT community; a new stance which, some say, helped the city land the 2014 Gay Games.

Councilman Joe Santiago introduced the ordinance last year, about the same time that the council began considering a domestic partner registry that allows same- and opposite-sex couples to declare a relationship without marriage; that vote passed by a 13-7 margin. Joe Santiago, the council's first openly gay council member, urged his colleagues to continue fighting for equality, but voters recently denied his bid for a second four-year term. Santiago says he will continue working for LGBT rights in Ohio.