Report on discrimination in Oklahoma issued by the Williams Institute

Oklahoma City – Oklahoma’s lack of employment protections for the gay and transgender communities leaves 62,000 hard-working Oklahomans in jeopardy of facing discrimination at work. Currently, seven cities in Oklahoma have ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in public sector employment, but do not include gender identity or private sector employment; approximately 99 percent of Oklahoma’s workforce is not covered by these laws.

The Equality Network is proud to have worked with the Williams Institute to craft this report highlighting the vulnerability created by the lack of statewide legislation, or more comprehensive municipal ordinances.

TEN/Cimarron Alliance executive director, Troy Stevenson welcomed the report. “We would like to thank the Williams Institute for highlighting the extreme need to protect hard-working Oklahomans from harassment and discrimination. Our fight for equality continues, and in the coming year there will be a large focus on ending discrimination for all Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma State Representative – Jason Dunnington (D – HD 88) has proposed legislation – HB 1345 - to address employment discrimination. Dunnington issued a statement saying: “Thanks to research done by The Williams Institute and The Equality Network, we have data backing up the importance of employment protections for all Oklahomans.

“While several universities and private sector employers in Oklahoma have implemented policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity it is important for us to address this issue at the state level.

“It is for this reason my office introduced HB1345 which will seek to amend Oklahoma’s current employment discrimination law to include discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. As legendary Oklahoman Will Rogers once said, ‘we will never have true civilization until we have learned to recognize the rights of others.’”

The Gayly – January 22, 2015 @ 4:20pm.