ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown officials on Wednesday scrapped the city\u2019s discrimination and human relations ordinance and passed a new measure to expand protections.<\/p>\n
Council unanimously approved Bill 46, a 27-page ordinance that replaces the 16-page city law first enacted in 1963 and amended several times since.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are parts of it that are just not applicable anymore.”<\/p>\n
Activist Liz Bradbury on Allentown’s discrimination and HRC ordinance enacted in 1963<\/p>\n
Many of the changes in Allentown’s new ordinance are housekeeping updates that make it more \u201creflective of 2025,\u201d Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach said.<\/p>\n
She called the new city law \u201ca very comprehensive ordinance that really looks at [multiple] facets of society and different groups that definitely need protections.\u201d<\/p>\n
It defines almost two dozen more terms than did the previous ordinance, including citizenship status, gender expression and genetic information.<\/p>\n
It also includes provisions that ban race-based hair discrimination, similar to CROWN Act legislation enacted in 25 states, not including Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
And the ordinance grants Allentown\u2019s Human Relations Commission the authority to enforce the city\u2019s HRC protections.<\/p>\n
‘Well overdue’<\/p>\n
Activist Liz Bradbury crafted the measure using Lehigh County\u2019s human relations commission ordinance \u201cas a model\u201d to update the city\u2019s 62-year-old bill, Gerlach said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are parts of it that are just not applicable anymore,\u201d Bradbury told council members before they passed the new ordinance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think any of us really knew that our ordinance was that out-of-date.”<\/p>\n
Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach<\/p>\n
Gerlach said she proposed the legislation after residents asked for an update.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think any of us really knew that our ordinance was that out of date,\u201d she said, thanking residents.<\/p>\n
Councilman Santo Napoli, who owns a downtown clothing store, said a rewrite of Allentown\u2019s HRC ordinance was \u201cwell overdue\u201d more than two decades after its last major update.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine doing my day job with 2002 standards,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n