North Dakota Bill Would Add Sexual Orientation To Human Rights Laws

A new bill in the North Dakota Legislature could have that state joining thirteen others in outlawing discrimination in employment based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Minnesota was the first state in the nation to do so in 1993, and the North Dakota bill follows that lead.

On Wednesday, the bill passed the North Dakota Senate, which is made up of 21 Democrats and 26 Republicans, by a wide margin with a vote of 27-19.

The bill would add sexual orientation to state statutes outlawing discrimination in employment, housing, credit, insurance and public accommodations, and the term “sexual orientation” is broad enough to encompass gender identity. The bill says, “Sexual orientation means actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality, or gender identity or expression.”

Like Minnesota’s law, the bill provides exemptions for religious institutions that refuse to hire LGBT people.

Minnesota, and in particular the Twin Cities, has seen an influx of LGBT “refugees” from North Dakota over the years. I asked a few transplants about the climate for LGBT people in both states and the pending bill.

“I thought the climate in Fargo was actually pretty good,” said Minneapolis resident Shane Phifer, who attended North Dakota State University. “I did spend most of my time at school so that might have influenced it and gave me a little bit of a limited perspective.”

Of the bill he said, “I think it’s always a good thing to have a law on the books that protects people from discrimination.”

Minneapolis resident Justin C. Grey Day grew up in Fort Yates, N.D., on the Standing Rock Reservation.

“I have always thought that North Dakota, in general, was like a foreign country, disconnected from the rest of America, because there has been a lot of ignorance surrounding not only LGBT issues, but women’s issues and racial issues as well,” he said. “But specifically, living on the reservation, there seems to be more tolerance when it comes to LGBT people, but that is in part due to the culture of the indigenous people who live there.”

On the proposed bill, Grey Day said, “I think it’s great that the North Dakota Legislature is considering passing a bill that would end discrimination of LGBT people, and it gives me hope that maybe, just maybe, the social climate and consciousness in North Dakota is starting to shift in a more humanitarian direction.”

He continues, “I’m also in shock that in 2009, this is just now being considered in North Dakota … It seems strange that there are places where this type of law doesn’t exist or maybe I’ve just lived in Minnesota so long that I’ve taken things like this for granted.”

On returning to North Dakota, he said: “As much as I love my ancestral homeland, I tend to stay away because of the social and political climate there.”