Efforts are being taken to finally push through a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity during the 2015 Florida legislative session.
Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce has hired a group of bipartisan political campaigners to lead this initiative. Ashley Walker, 2012 top Florida strategist for President Obama, will head the initiative as campaign manager, along with Republican lobbyist Towson Fraser, Republican fundraiser and former adviser to Gov. Jeb Bush Ann Herberger and Tallahassee public relations executive Christina Johnson.
The Florida Businesses for a Competitive Workforce, a nonprofit organization, was formed in March in an effort to help pass The Competitive Workforce Act, which if passed would add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression to Florida’s anti-discrimination law.
Florida businesses and employers all over the state are a part of the coalition, including Walt Disney World Resort, Wells Fargo and Florida Blue. Nineteen major Florida employers have joined since the coalition’s inception in March.
The Competitive Workforce Act had a House version that was sponsored by Rep. Holly Merrill Rashein and former openly gay House representative Joe Saunders. There was also a Senate version of the act sponsored by Sen. Joe Abruzzo, D-Wellington.
Despite the measure failing during the 2014 legislative session, the group intends to see that it is pushed through the House. So far, there has been no word of any new legislation banning gender discrimination filed for the 2015 session.
