Last night Savannah became the ninth city in Georgia to enact a local nondiscrimination ordinance that ensures no one can be denied a job, a home, or a service in a public place because they’re LGBTQ.

Thanks to the effort of local advocates and city leaders like Mayor Van Johnson and Alderman Kurtis Purtee, LGBTQ Georgians who live and work in Savannah will now have immediate protections against discrimination.

It’s clearer than ever that there’s incredible momentum behind this movement.

For years, LGBTQ Georgians were only protected against discrimination within the boundaries of Atlanta. That changed in November 2018, when Doraville enacted its own LGBTQ-inclusive local nondiscrimination ordinance. Since then, seven more cities—Decatur, Clarkston, Chamblee, Dunwoody, Brookhaven, East Point, and now Savannah—have followed.

We’re eager to see which cities and counties will be next. Cities in Dekalb, Gwinnett, Clarke, Chatham, and Bibb counties are actively considering similar ordinances.

Local victories like these make a world of difference to LGBTQ Georgians, and they also build a case for more robust state and national laws. When our lawmakers see dozens of cities acting proactively to stop discrimination, they pay attention.

Let’s keep up this momentum and urge our state lawmakers to pass a statewide civil rights law that explicitly protects LGBTQ people from discrimination. Until state and federal protections become a reality, local nondiscrimination ordinances allow us to protect LGBTQ Georgians immediately—because discrimination is happening every day, in communities across the state, and solutions are needed now.