News Flash

The City Council and the Human Relations Commission are soliciting applications through April 30 from city residents interested in serving on the Non-Discrimination Study Subcommittee, a new panel that will advise the council and the commission on critical issues and opportunities facing the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex and Asexual and/or Ally  (LBGTQIA+) community.

The subcommittee will also recommend policies and procedures that will advance social and economic equality for the LGBTQIA+ community. Committee members will meet for 18 months, after which they will issue a final report with recommendations and suggested action plans.

To serve on the study subcommittee, applicants should live in Winston-Salem, be a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, and commit to attending at least three out of every four subcommittee meetings, to be held monthly at 4 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month beginning July 1.

A link to the application is posted at CItyofWS.org/2903.

Last month the City Council amended the city’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy to include color, religion, gender identity or expression, protected hairstyles, veteran status and family status as specifically protected classes in addition to the previous protected classes covering race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, handicap, age, political affiliation, and national origin.

The council concurrently made it policy for the city administration and advisory boards and commissions to bar discrimination against these protected classes, and amended the city’s Fair Housing Ordinance to specifically include “sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and any other protected category” of residents covered under a recent Supreme Court ruling.