Florida advocacy groups, nonprofits file brief urging appeal court to protect HROs

ABOVE: Two women were denied access to Rachel’s Orlando because they were not accompanied by a man. (Image from Google Maps)

ORLANDO | Equality Florida, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and The Impact Fund led a coalition of statewide civil rights groups and nonprofit organizations in filing an amicus brief Dec. 17 urging Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeal to reverse a trial court ruling against Orange County’s Human Rights Ordinance (HRO).

The brief requests the court to reverse the ruling in Yanes v. O C Food and Beverage, LLC. The sex discrimination lawsuit alleged Orlando resident Brittney Smith and friend Anita Yanes were denied access to Rachel’s Orlando, a local business described on its website as a “World Class Men’s Club & Steak House,” in February 2018 because they did not have a male to escort them in. According to the lawsuit, Rachel’s policy requires women to be accompanied by a male companion which the brief says violates Orange County’s HRO.

“For many years, local HROs have been essential tools for LGBTQ Floridians to address discrimination in many aspects of life,” said Jon Harris Maurer, Equality Florida’s Public Policy Director, in a press release.

The trial judge dismissed the case in May 2018 ruling the Florida Civil Rights Act (FCRA) overrules local HROs, something the coalition says prohibits local governments from protecting their communities from discrimination since the FCRA does not cover sexual orientation and gender identity.

“Sixty percent of Floridians – more than 12 million people – live in cities and counties with local HROs that explicitly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,” Harris Maurer said. “These local protections are LGBTQ Floridians’ only recourse because our legislature has failed to enact explicit statewide protections, despite overwhelming public support.”

Smith and Yanes filed an appeal to the court’s decision in June.

The brief is supported by civil rights groups and nonprofit organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, the ACLU of Florida, Florida National Organization for Women, Florida State Conference of the NAACP, Freedom for All Americans, Lambda Legal, League of Women Voters of Florida, Legal Aid at Work and Zebra Coalition.

You can read the amicus brief in its entirety by going here.

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