The Houston GLBT Political Caucus would like to celebrate the Fort Bend County Commissioners Court on making history by unanimously passing an amendment to the County Policy on Equal Opportunity for County employees that adds Employee Non-Discrimination protections for Fort Bend County’s LGBTQ+ employees, veterans, and many other communities! Fort Bend now joins Harris County and nearly a dozen other localities in Texas that have non- discrimination policies which prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity for their local government employees, thanks to pro-equality Commissioner Ken DeMerchant.

This year we saw the failure of SB17, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s “license to discriminate” bill, which would have allowed for occupational license holders to discriminate based on what Patrick called “religious refusal.” Following that victory in the Texas House, it is truly heartening to see Fort Bend County go on to embrace and protect their LGBTQ+ employees. Fort Bend County is quickly gaining recognition as one of the nation’s most diverse counties, with nearly equal representation of Black, White, Asian, and Latino residents, according to the Texas Tribune.

“With this diversity comes a responsibility to protect the very communities they serve. We’re proud to have worked alongside Fort Bend County Commissioner DeMerchant, Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis for providing us the model, Pride Houston and Houston Attorney Fran Watson to secure equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, further demonstrating that Houston – and the metro area – is truly progressive, welcoming, and inclusive of all our communities. And the fact this was an unanimous vote proves that Equality is a non-partisan issue, thank you Fort Bend County Commissioners court both Democrats and Republicans for voting and supporting local equality!” says Mike Webb, President of the Houston GLBT Political Caucus.