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The Newtown Township Board of Supervisors are expected to consider an anti-discrimination ordinance and to establish a human relations commission.
The township’s solicitor was tasked late last month with drafting the ordinance for the Supervisors to consider. He is expected to present it to the Supervisors at an upcoming meeting.
The ordinance would define protections for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community in the township and also set up a commission to hear cases of alleged discrimination. If approved, the ordinance would allow protections for employment, housing, and public accommodation
David Bria, a council member from Yardley Borough, came before the Supervisors to speak of how his community set up and implemented similar protections earlier this year.
Yardley’s citizen-populated human relations commission mirrors the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and is allowed under state regulations, Bria said.
The councilman said there are no federal regulations to stop discrimination based on gender expression and sexual orientation. He also said there is no state LGBT anti-discrimination law, but proposals are often floated in Harrisburg before getting killed before making to the legislative floor.
Newtown Township could be the sixth community in Bucks County to have an anti-discrimination ordinance and among 50 across the state. Previously, Bristol Borough, Doylestown Borough, Newtown Borough, New Hope and Yardley have passed similar ordinances.
