Decatur is now the sixth city in Georgia to enact a local nondiscrimination law that ensures no one can be denied a job, a home or service in a public place because they’re LGBTQ.

Thanks to the effort of local advocates and the leadership of the City Council, thousands of LGBTQ Georgians who live and work in Decatur 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.

In just the last year, four more cities—Clarkston, Chamblee, Dunwoody, and now Decatur—have followed suite.

We’re eager to see which cities and counties will be next. Cities in Dekalb, Gwinnett, Clark 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 in 2020 that explicitly protects LGBTQ people from discrimination.

We also need to keep up our support for the federal Equality Act, which would enact these protections nationwide. The Equality Act passed in the House by a bipartisan vote in May 2019, but has not yet passed the Senate.

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.

Help build this local momentum for LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination laws: Contact your local lawmakers now.