Assembly holds equal rights ordinance for second work session

The Juneau Assembly will take an equal rights ordinance through another work session before it takes the ordinance up for public hearing and consideration.

At its Committee of the Whole meeting Monday night, the Assembly decided to discuss the ordinance at its Aug. 15 work session to allow the city attorney time to clarify some portions of the religious exemptions section of the proposed city law.

If passed, the equal rights ordinance will ban discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, familial status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.

Once the Assembly has finished working out perceived kinks in the ordinance at the work session level, it will schedule it for a public hearing.

At a special meeting on June 22, the Assembly took public comment on the proposed ordinance. Twenty-nine people testified in favor of the ordinance, and one person testified against it.

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