Hawaii governor signs employment nondiscrimination bill

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force applauds Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s signing of HB546, a bill that prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity and expression. The protections are added to the employment section of the state’s nondiscrimination law, which already covers housing and public accommodation discrimination based on gender identity and expression. The Senate passed the bill on April 12 with a vote of 22-2 and the House passed the measure on March 4 with a vote of 42-4.

The Task Force has assisted various transgender rights activists, allies and LGBT organizations over the past several years with passage of this and various other pieces of transgender rights legislation in Hawaii, including the addition of “gender identity or expression” to the hate crimes law in 2003; passage of LGBT housing protections in 2005; and public accommodations protections in 2006.