In what we can only describe as a fantastic trend, two governors of traditionally conservative 'red' states have banned LGBT discrimination via executive order.
As her first official act since being sworn into office, newly-installed Kansas Governor Laura Kelly (D) has signed an executive order instructing state agencies to prohibit workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender state employees.
In a tweet, Kelly said she was “reinstating protections” to state LGBT employees that were “taken away in recent years.”
Her predecessor, Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, eliminated those protections in 2015 – the same year marriage equality became the law of the land.
As my first official act as Governor, I am reinstating protections to state employees who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. EO 2019-02 restores rights that were taken away in recent years.
Discrimination of any kind has no place in Kansas. It will not be tolerated. pic.twitter.com/MAi7mFzuYN
— @GovLauraKelly (@GovLauraKelly) January 15, 2019
Ohio’s new governor, Mike DeWine (R), issued a similar executive order on his first day in office on Monday prohibiting LGBT discrimination in regard to state employees.
Executive Order 2019-05D, signed by DeWine, basically renews the LGBT-inclusive directive signed by out-going Gov. John Kasich just days before he left office.
Neither Kansas nor Ohio have statewide laws that protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
As we celebrate Governor DeWine's decision to extend protections for LGBTQ+ state employees, we encourage all of our readers to keep pushing the Ohio General Assembly to do the right thing and finally passing the Ohio Fairness Act to protect all Ohioans.https://t.co/DSKZD1E49s
— LGBTCleveland (@LGBTCleveland) January 14, 2019
Unfortunately, the story in Florida isn’t as positive.
As Instinct as previously reported, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) chose not to add LGBTs to his executive order regarding discrimination against state employees.
There's still work to do…
