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Cape Coral’s LGBT Protections & Statewide Equality Efforts

Photo: WGCU file

The Cape Coral City Council unanimously voted to add protections for LGBT city employees to existing anti-discrimination policies last week, making Cape Coral the first municipality in Lee County with such protections.

Those protections, however, only cover municipal employees of one Florida city. Despite past efforts in Florida, state law does not address discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. In 2017, Florida remains a patchwork of county and city laws, with variable protections in the private and public sectors, when it comes to protections on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
 

Monday at 1 p.m. on Gulf Coast Live, Cape Coral City Council member Jessica Cosden joins the conversation about the limits of the city's new LGBT ordinance and the reaction from the city's roughly 1,500 employees.
 

Hannah Willard with Equality Florida also joins the conversation to discuss efforts elsewhere in Southwest Florida, and statewide, when it comes to LGBT rights in the Sunshine State.

Matthew Smith is a reporter and producer of WGCU’s Gulf Coast Live.
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