US: Bill prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination to be introduced in South Carolina

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The US State of South Carolina is looking to make discrimination against LGBT people in the workplace illegal, with a bill on the matter to be heard next week.

There is no nationwide US law prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination in the workplace, although some states and local areas are beginning to introduce laws of their own.

On Tuesday, the South Carolina House of Representatives will have the first hearing of its own possible state anti-discrimination law, the Workplace Fairness Act, introduced by Democrat James Smith.

South Carolina Equality Executive Director Ryan Wilson said of the bill: “All hardworking people in our state should have the chance to earn a living and provide for themselves and their families.

“Nobody should have to live in fear that they can be legally fired for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance.”

Meanwhile, a bill introduced in the state of Washington on Thursday is looking to create legal exceptions for anti-LGBT discrimination by businesses on religious, philosophical, or moral grounds.

The bill was introduced after Washington’s attorney general filed a lawsuit against Arlene’s Flowers, a florist which refused to provide flowers to a gay couple for their wedding, despite having served them previously.

In March a lesbian teacher in Ohio was fired from the school she had worked at for 19 years, after she revealed she had a female partner by naming her in her mother’s obituary.

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