 The Jacksonville City Council has passed what's called the HRO bill. HRO has been making headlines in Jacksonville for five years, but what is it? HRO stands for Human Rights Ordinance. The legislation adds lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender protections to the city's human rights ordinances. Let's break that down. So we already have human rights ordinances, their local policies banning discrimination based on personal characteristics. In Jacksonville, ordinances had already protected people from discrimination based on characteristics, including their race, religion, national origin, sex, marital, or familial status, pregnancy, age, disability, or ancestry. And different protections apply to people when they're looking for a place to live, at their jobs, and in public, like stores and restaurants. Because LGBT characteristics weren't already protected, discrimination based on someone's LGBT status was legal before this bill. It's not prohibited at the state level either. So this city bill updated Jacksonville's human rights ordinances to protect people based on sexual orientation. That's the LGV and gender identity, which most commonly refers to the T for transgender. The simplest way to explain what transgender means is someone who identifies as a different gender than their assigned sex at birth. But religious institutions and their affiliated nonprofits wouldn't have to serve higher or house LGBT people if they have religious objections. The bill says religious institutions include churches, synagogues, and mosques, schools of religious instruction, and nonprofit organizations affiliated with them. For those religious organizations, the Human Rights Commission would determine if they qualify for an exemption. And businesses with fewer than 15 employees are exempt from complying with the law when it comes to hiring only. Also under the bill, businesses could enforce a dress code for their employees, but not one based on sex stereotypes. For example, women could not be forced to wear a dress. Of course, this is just a quick HRO explainer. Want to learn more? Check out wjctnews.org.