November 16, 2011 04:17 PM
After a long wait, gay and lesbian students and employees at Florida Atlantic University are now specifically protected from discrimination and harassment.
FAU’s board of trustees amended its policy Wednesday to add sexual orientation as a protected class, joining race, color, religion, age, disability, sex, national origin, marital status and veteran status.
All other state universities except Florida A&M already had sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. But the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council faced resistance from FAU in 2006 when it tried add the protection. The university instead chose to include “any other basis protected by law.” Some argued that covered sexual orientation since discrimination against gays and lesbians was already prohibited under Broward County and Palm Beach County ordinances.
Still, some argued the omission made FAU look less welcoming to prospective faculty and students. FAU’s student government and Lambda United, the school’s gay-straight alliance, held a rally Monday in support of the changes.
Boris Bastidas, a student government member who pushed for the changes, said the work isn’t over just yet.
“Although we’re pleased with the changes thus far, there’s still concern about including gender identity for transgender students as well,” he said.
Five state universities currently have protection for transgender students and employees: the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida, Florida State University, the University of West Florida and New College of Florida.
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