Frequently Asked Questions
Got questions? We have some answers.
What is the intent of the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance?
The intent of a local non-discrimination ordinance is to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons who live in, work in, or visit the City of Tucker to be free from all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran/military status.
The proposed ordinance addresses:
-Federally protected classes (i.e. race, color, sex, religion…)
-Non-protected classes (sexual orientation and gender identity)
-Legal areas where federal and state laws do not apply currently
The intent of the ordinance is to communicate that all people living, working and transacting business in Tucker are worthy of respect and fair treatment. The ordinance would also create a local enforcement process for complaints of discrimination.
What about my religious freedom?
Your right to worship will be protected. In fact, the ordinance includes religion as a class to be protected from discrimination. If you experience discrimination based on your religion. the ordinance offers you a means to address it. The ordinance also includes exceptions for religious organizations in their hiring practices and in their non-commercial activities.
The ordinance is similar to those adopted by our neighbors, Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, and Dunwoody. Religious freedom remains intact in those cities and will remain in Tucker.
Isn’t this covered in Federal and State law?
Federal and State laws protect certain groups of citizens against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Those statutory protections are afforded on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, marital status, familial status and veteran status.
Georgia is one of only three states without a statewide all-encompassing non-discrimination law that protects all classes of people. Instead, Georgia has passed the following acts:
In May 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which would protect from LGBTQ discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and other areas. The Senate, however, is unlikely to pass the bill.
Doesn’t Georgia being a right to work state negate this ordinance?
No. In a right-to-work state it is not legal for an employer and a union to have a contract that requires each employee to join the union. Nor can the contract require an employee to pay dues to the union.
Doesn’t Georgia being an at-will employment state negate this ordinance?
No. It means that an employer can terminate an employee for any reason without warning. However, an employer cannot fire an employee if the reason for doing so is illegal, such as firing someone because of their sex, race, or religion as these are currently protected.
What have other Georgia cities and counties done about local non-discrimination ordinances?
More than 60 jurisdictions across Georgia offer protections to LGBTQ people to varying degrees with more than 20 offering gender identify protections. In DeKalb County the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, and Dunwoody have adopted non-discrimination ordinances. The city of East Point, in Fulton County adopted its non-discrimination ordinance in June of 2020.
Gwinnett County has a Human Relations Commission that ensures fair and equal treatment and opportunity for all persons, with protections including gender identity and sexual orientation.
Additional cities have enacted more limited protections, prohibiting discrimination against public municipal employees only. The cities of Athens, Augusta, Avondale Estates, Columbus, Decatur, Macon, Pine Lake and Savannah have ordinances banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in public employment, while the cities of East Point, Sandy Springs, and Tybee Island, as well as the counties of DeKalb and Fulton have similar anti–discrimination ordinances in public employment covering only sexual orientation.
Who does the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance protect?
The ordinance would provide an individual with protection from certain discriminatory acts on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, familial status and veteran status. Sexual orientation means one's perceived or actual emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people. It can be described as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual or asexual. Gender identity means the actual or perceived gender-related identity, expression, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.
Who must comply with the Ordinance?
The ordinance would provide uniform legal protection to individuals in all of the classes listed above, making it unlawful to discriminate in employment, housing, and public accommodations. As currently proposed, any person within the City limits who employs one or more people, who sells real estate or leases property, rents housing, or who offers goods, services, facilities or accommodations to the public must comply with the ordinance. This would include the City of Tucker government. The ordinance would not apply to a religious organization, private fraternal and benevolent association or society, or a nonprofit private club.
What are some examples of public accommodations?
A public accommodation is any person who caters or offers goods, services, facilities or accommodations to the public. For example, any restaurant, bar, salon, grocery store, gas station, photography service, rental venue, retail store, medical or business office open to the general public would be considered a public accommodation. The non-discrimination in places of public accommodations prohibits a business from discriminating against a patron or customer based on one or more of that person’s protected characteristics. Specifically, a business is not permitted to deny any person the full and equal enjoyment of the business’s goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations on the basis of any protected characteristic. Additionally, a business is not permitted to exclude, refuse to provide services, offer lesser services, or disadvantage a person because of any of the characteristics protected by the ordinance.
Will this make Tucker less desirable for new businesses?
No. In fact, most companies have their own non-discrimination policies and look to locate in communities that are in alignment.
What is the process for filing a complaint?
A complaint under the ordinance must be filed with the city clerk within 90 days of the alleged act of discrimination. A $50 filing fee is required.
A city-appointed Hearing Officer will review the complaint for merit regarding compliance with the ordinance. Unless they decide to dismiss it, the Hearing Officer will refer the complaint to a mediator for voluntary non-binding mediation between the complainant and the alleged violator.
If the issue isn’t resolved in mediation, the complaint is referred back to the Hearing Officer. If the officer finds a violation has occurred, the offender can face a $500 fine for the first violation, $1,000 for subsequent violations.
How would the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance affect restrooms and changing facilities?
A question about an individual’s use of a particular restroom or changing facility may arise in employment or public accommodations. It may be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to mandate that an employee use a restroom or changing facility consistent with their designated sex at birth rather than their gender identity. Likewise, a public accommodation may offer a restroom or changing facility to be used by patrons or the general public. Again, it may be an unlawful discriminatory practice to mandate that an individual use a restroom or changing facility consistent with their designated sex at birth rather than their gender identity. The ordinance would not require the elimination of separate men’s and women’s facilities, nor would it require a business to provide new or special restroom facilities, locker rooms, or other changing facilities although it may choose to do so to accommodate the privacy of its customers. However, a business may not prohibit a person from using the restroom or locker room consistent with the gender identified or expressed by that person. The ordinance would not permit or excuse inappropriate or unlawful activity. The ordinance protects the legitimate use of facilities by transgender persons.
Is this a crime?
No, a finding that you committed an unlawful act of discrimination is not a crime. A finding that you committed an unlawful act of discrimination is a civil violation that does not impact your criminal record in any way.
Why do we need this as we don’t have any cases of discrimination?
Well, we really don’t know if there are cases of discrimination because we have nowhere to report it and no way of tracking it.
Why don’t we pass a resolution and then attach it to business license applications saying that we reserve the right to deny or pull licenses based on discrimination?
A resolution is intended to be a timely expression of opinion and typically has a temporary effect. Resolutions are used when an ordinance is unnecessary or unfeasible. To truly be able to enforce such a resolution it would need to be an ordinance with a clear legal process.
Didn’t the Supreme Court rule against such laws with the Colorado Masterpiece Cake Shop case?
No. The question people thought was going to be answered by this case, “Is a business’s freedom to choose its customers more important than the government’s interest in stopping discrimination based on sexual orientation?” was not answered. The Supreme Court instead decided the case on narrower grounds by concluding that members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission expressed impermissible hostility to religion.
Is this still necessary after the Supreme Court Ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia?
The Supreme Court's ruling that employment protections provided by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to sexual orientation and gender identity is a landmark affirmation of the right of LGBTQ Americans to earn a living. Title VII applies to businesses with 15 or more employees, leaving a gap in protection, with employees at some small businesses remaining vulnerable. Also note that this ruling does not address discrimination in housing or public accommodations.
Could a bad actor sully the reputation of a person or business with frivolous accusations at no personal risk?
The city currently has no means to prevent a bad actor from publicizing frivolous accusations about a person or business. The proposed Unlawful Discrimination ordinance would create an orderly process for the city to address both legitimate and frivolous accusations. Within that process, no complaint would be "risk free".
The $50 filing fee is the first filter against a frivolous complaint. The second filter is the Hearing Officer whose task is to review and weed out complaints that are obviously without merit. The ordinance sets up a mediation process, and an appeal hearing process at which evidence can be collected and presented, and at which the complainant bears the burden of proof.
Would a business be forced to hire or retain a transgender employee, possibly resulting in the loss of offended customers?
Firing or refusing to hire a person solely for being transgender would violate the proposed ordinance. Tucker can be a place where all people, including transgender persons, have the right to earn an honorable living.
By setting up some protected classes, are others left without protections?
Persons of all races, colors, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, religions, disabilities, etc. are meant to be covered by the ordinance.
Does including LGBT persons as a protected class detract from the ongoing struggle of other minorities?
It's not a "zero sum game". By setting a standard of nondiscrimination, the city will be a safer, more welcoming place for all people.
Would the ordinance affect the Mayor’s ability to make appointments?
The ordinance, as proposed, does not address Mayoral appointments or create a diversity requirement. However, we expect our Mayor would espouse the same principles. We think Mayoral appointments to date have set a good standard of inclusivity.
Once the ordinance becomes open to public debate, could the debate become hurtful?
Many of the people this ordinance is meant to protect have borne hurtful insults throughout their lives from people that objected to their race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. We trust the city to continue to enforce a standard of civility and respect during public hearings on the ordinance.
Why is it taking so long to vote on the proposed nondiscrimination ordinance?
We submitted a draft non-discrimination ordinance to the city for consideration in July of 2019. Over the following several years we met with the Mayor and individual council members to discuss the proposed draft and advocate for action. In 2022 the city appointed a committee to study the issue. They recommended an ordinance be adopted. A draft ordinance was presented at the city council work session in September of 2022. The ordinance is finally up for hearing in May of 2023, It has been a long process during which the rights of those who wish to discriminate have been carefully balanced against the rights of those who desire to be freed from discrimination.
The intent of a local non-discrimination ordinance is to protect and safeguard the right and opportunity of all persons who live in, work in, or visit the City of Tucker to be free from all forms of discrimination, including discrimination based on actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, disability, marital status, familial status, or veteran/military status.
The proposed ordinance addresses:
-Federally protected classes (i.e. race, color, sex, religion…)
-Non-protected classes (sexual orientation and gender identity)
-Legal areas where federal and state laws do not apply currently
The intent of the ordinance is to communicate that all people living, working and transacting business in Tucker are worthy of respect and fair treatment. The ordinance would also create a local enforcement process for complaints of discrimination.
What about my religious freedom?
Your right to worship will be protected. In fact, the ordinance includes religion as a class to be protected from discrimination. If you experience discrimination based on your religion. the ordinance offers you a means to address it. The ordinance also includes exceptions for religious organizations in their hiring practices and in their non-commercial activities.
The ordinance is similar to those adopted by our neighbors, Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, and Dunwoody. Religious freedom remains intact in those cities and will remain in Tucker.
Isn’t this covered in Federal and State law?
Federal and State laws protect certain groups of citizens against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Those statutory protections are afforded on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, marital status, familial status and veteran status.
Georgia is one of only three states without a statewide all-encompassing non-discrimination law that protects all classes of people. Instead, Georgia has passed the following acts:
- The Georgia Age Discrimination Act prohibits discrimination against individuals who are between the ages of 40 and 70. (GA Code Sec. 34-1-2) This statute applies to public and private employers, regardless of size.
- Georgia’s Equal Employment for Persons with Disabilities Code prohibits discrimination because of a disability. This statute applies to public and private employers with 15 or more employees. (GA Code Sec. 34-6A-2)
- Georgia’s Equal Pay Act requires employers to pay employees of the opposite sex equal wages for equal work. (GA Code Sec. 34-5-1) This statute applies all public employers and private employers with 10 or more employees.
- The Georgia Fair Employment Practices Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, disability, religion, sex, national origin, or age. (GA Code Sec. 45-19-20 et seq.) Unlike most state statutes, which apply to both private and public employers, this statute only applies to a state agency with 15 or more employees.
In May 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act, which would protect from LGBTQ discrimination in housing, employment, public accommodations and other areas. The Senate, however, is unlikely to pass the bill.
Doesn’t Georgia being a right to work state negate this ordinance?
No. In a right-to-work state it is not legal for an employer and a union to have a contract that requires each employee to join the union. Nor can the contract require an employee to pay dues to the union.
Doesn’t Georgia being an at-will employment state negate this ordinance?
No. It means that an employer can terminate an employee for any reason without warning. However, an employer cannot fire an employee if the reason for doing so is illegal, such as firing someone because of their sex, race, or religion as these are currently protected.
What have other Georgia cities and counties done about local non-discrimination ordinances?
More than 60 jurisdictions across Georgia offer protections to LGBTQ people to varying degrees with more than 20 offering gender identify protections. In DeKalb County the cities of Atlanta, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, and Dunwoody have adopted non-discrimination ordinances. The city of East Point, in Fulton County adopted its non-discrimination ordinance in June of 2020.
Gwinnett County has a Human Relations Commission that ensures fair and equal treatment and opportunity for all persons, with protections including gender identity and sexual orientation.
Additional cities have enacted more limited protections, prohibiting discrimination against public municipal employees only. The cities of Athens, Augusta, Avondale Estates, Columbus, Decatur, Macon, Pine Lake and Savannah have ordinances banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in public employment, while the cities of East Point, Sandy Springs, and Tybee Island, as well as the counties of DeKalb and Fulton have similar anti–discrimination ordinances in public employment covering only sexual orientation.
Who does the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance protect?
The ordinance would provide an individual with protection from certain discriminatory acts on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, marital status, familial status and veteran status. Sexual orientation means one's perceived or actual emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to other people. It can be described as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual or asexual. Gender identity means the actual or perceived gender-related identity, expression, appearance, or mannerisms, or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s designated sex at birth.
Who must comply with the Ordinance?
The ordinance would provide uniform legal protection to individuals in all of the classes listed above, making it unlawful to discriminate in employment, housing, and public accommodations. As currently proposed, any person within the City limits who employs one or more people, who sells real estate or leases property, rents housing, or who offers goods, services, facilities or accommodations to the public must comply with the ordinance. This would include the City of Tucker government. The ordinance would not apply to a religious organization, private fraternal and benevolent association or society, or a nonprofit private club.
What are some examples of public accommodations?
A public accommodation is any person who caters or offers goods, services, facilities or accommodations to the public. For example, any restaurant, bar, salon, grocery store, gas station, photography service, rental venue, retail store, medical or business office open to the general public would be considered a public accommodation. The non-discrimination in places of public accommodations prohibits a business from discriminating against a patron or customer based on one or more of that person’s protected characteristics. Specifically, a business is not permitted to deny any person the full and equal enjoyment of the business’s goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations on the basis of any protected characteristic. Additionally, a business is not permitted to exclude, refuse to provide services, offer lesser services, or disadvantage a person because of any of the characteristics protected by the ordinance.
Will this make Tucker less desirable for new businesses?
No. In fact, most companies have their own non-discrimination policies and look to locate in communities that are in alignment.
What is the process for filing a complaint?
A complaint under the ordinance must be filed with the city clerk within 90 days of the alleged act of discrimination. A $50 filing fee is required.
A city-appointed Hearing Officer will review the complaint for merit regarding compliance with the ordinance. Unless they decide to dismiss it, the Hearing Officer will refer the complaint to a mediator for voluntary non-binding mediation between the complainant and the alleged violator.
If the issue isn’t resolved in mediation, the complaint is referred back to the Hearing Officer. If the officer finds a violation has occurred, the offender can face a $500 fine for the first violation, $1,000 for subsequent violations.
How would the Unlawful Discrimination Ordinance affect restrooms and changing facilities?
A question about an individual’s use of a particular restroom or changing facility may arise in employment or public accommodations. It may be an unlawful discriminatory practice for an employer to mandate that an employee use a restroom or changing facility consistent with their designated sex at birth rather than their gender identity. Likewise, a public accommodation may offer a restroom or changing facility to be used by patrons or the general public. Again, it may be an unlawful discriminatory practice to mandate that an individual use a restroom or changing facility consistent with their designated sex at birth rather than their gender identity. The ordinance would not require the elimination of separate men’s and women’s facilities, nor would it require a business to provide new or special restroom facilities, locker rooms, or other changing facilities although it may choose to do so to accommodate the privacy of its customers. However, a business may not prohibit a person from using the restroom or locker room consistent with the gender identified or expressed by that person. The ordinance would not permit or excuse inappropriate or unlawful activity. The ordinance protects the legitimate use of facilities by transgender persons.
Is this a crime?
No, a finding that you committed an unlawful act of discrimination is not a crime. A finding that you committed an unlawful act of discrimination is a civil violation that does not impact your criminal record in any way.
Why do we need this as we don’t have any cases of discrimination?
Well, we really don’t know if there are cases of discrimination because we have nowhere to report it and no way of tracking it.
Why don’t we pass a resolution and then attach it to business license applications saying that we reserve the right to deny or pull licenses based on discrimination?
A resolution is intended to be a timely expression of opinion and typically has a temporary effect. Resolutions are used when an ordinance is unnecessary or unfeasible. To truly be able to enforce such a resolution it would need to be an ordinance with a clear legal process.
Didn’t the Supreme Court rule against such laws with the Colorado Masterpiece Cake Shop case?
No. The question people thought was going to be answered by this case, “Is a business’s freedom to choose its customers more important than the government’s interest in stopping discrimination based on sexual orientation?” was not answered. The Supreme Court instead decided the case on narrower grounds by concluding that members of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission expressed impermissible hostility to religion.
Is this still necessary after the Supreme Court Ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia?
The Supreme Court's ruling that employment protections provided by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 apply to sexual orientation and gender identity is a landmark affirmation of the right of LGBTQ Americans to earn a living. Title VII applies to businesses with 15 or more employees, leaving a gap in protection, with employees at some small businesses remaining vulnerable. Also note that this ruling does not address discrimination in housing or public accommodations.
Could a bad actor sully the reputation of a person or business with frivolous accusations at no personal risk?
The city currently has no means to prevent a bad actor from publicizing frivolous accusations about a person or business. The proposed Unlawful Discrimination ordinance would create an orderly process for the city to address both legitimate and frivolous accusations. Within that process, no complaint would be "risk free".
The $50 filing fee is the first filter against a frivolous complaint. The second filter is the Hearing Officer whose task is to review and weed out complaints that are obviously without merit. The ordinance sets up a mediation process, and an appeal hearing process at which evidence can be collected and presented, and at which the complainant bears the burden of proof.
Would a business be forced to hire or retain a transgender employee, possibly resulting in the loss of offended customers?
Firing or refusing to hire a person solely for being transgender would violate the proposed ordinance. Tucker can be a place where all people, including transgender persons, have the right to earn an honorable living.
By setting up some protected classes, are others left without protections?
Persons of all races, colors, national origins, gender identities, sexual orientations, religions, disabilities, etc. are meant to be covered by the ordinance.
Does including LGBT persons as a protected class detract from the ongoing struggle of other minorities?
It's not a "zero sum game". By setting a standard of nondiscrimination, the city will be a safer, more welcoming place for all people.
Would the ordinance affect the Mayor’s ability to make appointments?
The ordinance, as proposed, does not address Mayoral appointments or create a diversity requirement. However, we expect our Mayor would espouse the same principles. We think Mayoral appointments to date have set a good standard of inclusivity.
Once the ordinance becomes open to public debate, could the debate become hurtful?
Many of the people this ordinance is meant to protect have borne hurtful insults throughout their lives from people that objected to their race, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. We trust the city to continue to enforce a standard of civility and respect during public hearings on the ordinance.
Why is it taking so long to vote on the proposed nondiscrimination ordinance?
We submitted a draft non-discrimination ordinance to the city for consideration in July of 2019. Over the following several years we met with the Mayor and individual council members to discuss the proposed draft and advocate for action. In 2022 the city appointed a committee to study the issue. They recommended an ordinance be adopted. A draft ordinance was presented at the city council work session in September of 2022. The ordinance is finally up for hearing in May of 2023, It has been a long process during which the rights of those who wish to discriminate have been carefully balanced against the rights of those who desire to be freed from discrimination.