The prime sponsor of this ordinance was Lehigh County Commissioner Zach Cole-Borghi. Co-sponsors of the ordinance were Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons, and Lehigh County Commissioner Shelia Alvarado, with full support of the Chair of the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Geoff Brace. It passed with a 6 to 3 vote. The ordinance was signed into law by Lehigh County Executive Phillips Armstrong about two weeks after passage.

The primary author of this ordinance is Liz Bradbury, who also is the Chair of Keystone Equality. The ordinance was created through a 3 year collaborative effort by the very diverse Lehigh County Human Relations Advisory Council (LCHRAC) members — a volunteer group appointed by the Board of Commissioners and County Executive specifically to create protections for the citizens and those working in, living in, and those using public accommodations in Lehigh County.

The Lehigh County Ordinance protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression along with many other classes of people who may be subject to discrimination. It goes beyond the protections afforded by PA state and federal laws in significant ways.

This ordinance is not overreaching. It simply brings together the best language of anti-discrimination protections included in other municipal laws  — all into one law, and makes sure that the ordinance reaches all areas where discrimination is prevalent - employment, housing, public accommodation, healthcare, and education. It also protects workers regardless of the size of the business for which they work, which state and federal law does not.

The ordinance was fulled reviewed, appropriately worded, and fully vetted by Lehigh County Solicitor Catharine Roseberry and the Lehigh County office of solicitors. This Human Relations ordinance takes into consideration the requirements of PA State Law, the requirements of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act and Commission, and recent Supreme Court of the United States decisions. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Ordinance, originally passed in 1955, allows individual Pennsylvania municipalities to pass their own local Human Relations Ordinances without reservation. In section 12.2 where the PA ordinance states:

• Section 12.1.  Local Human Relations Commissions.--(a)  The legislative body of a political subdivision may, by ordinance or resolution, authorize the establishment or membership in and support of a Local Human Relations Commission. The number and qualifications of the members of any local commission and their terms and method of appointment or removal shall be such as may be determined and agreed upon by the legislative body.

The right of any Pennsylvania municipality (county, city, town) to create and pass a Human Relations Ordinance, and create a Human Relations Commission was further supported by a PA Supreme Court Decision (Devlin v. City of Philadelphia) and a PA Superior Court Decision (Allentown v. Hartman) both rendered in 2004.

There is no circumstance that would prohibit a municipality in PA from creating and passing such a law other than opposition by the municipality’s governing body.

Currently, 76 municipalities in PA, including 3 counties, have non-discrimination ordinances.

The first inclusion of sexual orientation as a protected class was by Philadelphia in 1982.

The first inclusion of “gender identity” as a specific protected class was by Allentown in 2002. At that time 6 municipalities had Human Relations Ordinances that included sexual orientation as a protected class, and 3 or 4 of those extended the definition of sexual orientation to include aspects of gender diversity.

Liz Bradbury (Keystone Equality’s current Board Chair) led the effort of the Alllentown passage, fending off a ballot challenge and ultimately beating a court challenge in Superior Court, setting a precedent for the State.

All municipal passages of municipal Human Relations Ordinances in PA after 2002 have included sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

Pennsylvania municipal ordinances cover about 40% of the population of Pennsylvania (mostly in cities), but most of the territory of the state is not covered.

The State of Pennsylvania’s Human Relations Ordinance does not include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes, though in some cases, Pennsylvania Human Relations law may protect sexual orientation and gender identity under the definition of sex. The lack of inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity as specific Pennsylvania protected classes, puts LGBTQ+ people who are not in municipalities with non-discrimination laws, at risk every day.

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