Strategy to slowly expand gay rights across St. Louis is paying off

PROMO, a Missouri LGBT advocacy group, has made great strides in the past few years getting local jurisdictions to amend their anti-discrimination ordinances to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The most recent success was Tuesday, when the St. Louis County Council agreed to expand its protected classes. Like most governments, the county’s ordinance already prohibited discrimination with respect to race, color, religion, national origin and familial status. With County Executive Charlie Dooley signing the bill into law Wednesday, none of the nearly 320,000 people living in the unincorporated areas of St. Louis County can be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation when it comes to employment, housing and public accommodations.