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Ames council directs staff to draft ordinance extending civil-rights protections to gender identity
Summary
After more than an hour of legal briefing and public testimony, the Ames City Council voted to direct the city attorney to draft a local ordinance that would add gender identity to the citys human-rights protections and return with enforcement and penalty options in January.
The Ames City Council voted Dec. 9 to direct the city attorney to draft a local ordinance adding gender identity to the citys human-rights protections, following a legal briefing and several hours of public testimony.
City Attorney Mark Lambert told the council he had reviewed the Iowa Civil Rights Act and recent statutory changes and concluded municipalities retain authority to adopt additional protected classes. "The legislature specifically grants the authority to local governments to add additional classes of protected classes if they wish to," Lambert said, and he proposed using Iowa Citys ordinance as a template.
Council members pressed Lambert on two practical questions: who would…
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