The Arlington City Council. on Tuesday night, June 15, approved second readings to amend an ordinance banning discrimination in housing to specifically protect LGBTQ people and to adopt a new ordinance banning discrimination in employment and public accommodations that also includes LGBTQ people. The vote was unanimous.

The ordinance banning discrimination in employment and public accommodations on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity is the city’s first ordinance addressing such discrimination against any group, according to DeeJay Johannessen, CEO of the HELP Center for LGBT Health and Wellness and an activist who has been working with the city staff for several years to improve Arlington’s laws and policies addressing LGBTQ residents and city employees.

The amendment to the city’s Fair Housing Ordinance adds sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of protected classes that already included race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability and familial status.

At the first reading of the proposed amendment and proposed new ordinance, six people, including Johannessen spoke in favor. No one attended to oppose the ordinances, and the council approved both unanimously on first reading. Last night’s second reading vote was part of the council’s consent agenda, and again no one spoke in opposition, although Council member Raul Gonzales did ask city staff to clarify that an opinion issued Tuesday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton regarding a state board’s decision to include non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people has no bearing on the city’s vote.

Johannessen was the only person to speak to the council on the proposed changes Tuesday night, saying that he was there to thank the council, city staff and residents for passing the amended and new ordinances.

“Over the past 30 years, I’ve had the opportunity to witness anti-discrimination amendments being passed in cities across the nation,” Johannessen said. “And I want to tell you, this is the first time I have ever witnessed there be no opposition to passage, that nobody got up and spoke against it.”

— Tammye Nash