The Inter-Mountain photos by Taylor McKinnie Supporters of Ordinance 348 hold up signs saying ‘Elkins Welcomes All’ and ‘Fairness for Elkins’ as Elkins City Council votes on the ordinance Thursday night. The signs were provided by the organization Fairness West Virginia.

ELKINS — Elkins City Council voted to approve on final reading an ordinance designed to prohibit discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, and establishes grounds for a “private right of action,” making Elkins the 21st West Virginia municipality to have an anti-discrimination ordinance in place.

Eight council members voted in favor of Ordinance 348 during Thursday night’s meeting. Second Ward Council member Michael Hinchman and Third Ward representative Erika Plishka voted against the ordinance for a second time. The first reading of the ordinance was approved on Sept.19, also in an eight to two vote.

Ordinance 348 aims to prohibit discrimination based on race, color, religion, veteran status, national origin, age, disability, marital status, familial status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.

A large audience turned out in favor of the ordinance Thursday night, as more than 30 supporters and community members attended with signs reading “Elkins Welcomes All” and “Fairness for Elkins.”

Seven people came forward to speak in favor of Ordinance 348 during the meeting’s public comment section.

Andrew Schneider, who serves as the executive director of the organization Fairness West Virginia, spoke during the meeting. Schneider thanked the council for considering the ordinance and highlighted the importance of the theological principle of the Golden Rule in West Virginia.

“West Virginians will help their neighbor, without asking questions, and this ordinance, that we fully support, is basically putting that (the Golden Rule) into law here in Elkins,” Schneider said. “It would ensure everyone that they will be free of discrimination. Because this covers a whole raft of people, ranging from race, sex, religion, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, the whole gambit. So this is something that will benefit a lot of people.”

According to Ordinance 348, the City’s Rules and Ordinance Committee received a presentation from Fairness West Virginia on Sept. 2, proposing that the City Council consider and adopt an anti-discrimination ordinance.

Chris Lee, the former facility manager for the Phil Gainer Community Center and currently the greater Elkins area program coordinator for Ascend West Virginia, also spoke during the public comment section, reading a letter from local Pastor Robert Bobby Benavides from One Hope Covenant Church, who was unable to attend the meeting.

In his letter, Benavides expressed his support toward Ordinance 348, saying he believed that “Jesus would support this concept as well.”

“From a Christian understanding, when humankind was created, God made them in his image… the image within them (humankind) is given by their creator which requires all of humanity to be treated with dignity,” Lee read to the Council from Benavides’ letter. “The image that humans hold gives them an intrinsic worth, regardless of who they are, where they come from and social standing. Which means all of humanity should be looking out for each other. This ordinance supports this very concept based on scripture and a Christian understanding of humanity.”

Before council voted on the ordinance, Hinchman explained why he would be voting against it.

“I agree with everything they said. That’s not a problem,” Hinchman said. “The scope is not big enough to cover all of the city… by not doing just the part of it that should have included all of the city… it could cause it to be a precedent. By that, we could open up many other groups coming in and we would be inundated…”

Fourth Ward Council Member Andrew Carroll also spoke before the vote, highlighting how important it was, especially in a state like West Virginia, to include veterans and older people in the ordinance.

“Anything that gives people a little more recourse to just eke out just a little bit more justice, is a good thing,” Carroll said. “You can’t solve all problems and we certainly can’t bring all people together in the way that we want, and we certainly will all never get along in way we want to, but I think anything we can do to give people reasonable civil means to go try to have their day in court and get a little bit of justice for something they think’s been done wrong to them is a good thing, and I have no reservation about voting for this.”

Council’s purpose for enacting such an ordinance is to “promote the public health and welfare of all persons who live and work in the City of Elkins,” according to the wording of Ordinance 348.

“It is important for the City of Elkins to ensure that all persons within the City have equal access to employment, housing and public accommodations,” Ordinance 348 states.

While the ordinance will be a part of the Elkins City Code, Ordinance 348 will “not be enforced by the city.” Instead, the ordinance establishes a “private right of action for individuals who are aggrieved of any of the unlawful discriminatory practices described (in the ordinance).”

“The individual aggrieved may file a complaint in Randolph County Circuit Court, in compliance with the relevant rules of that Court, and must show through clear and convincing evidence that the defendant committed an unlawful discriminatory practice as described (in the ordinance),” Ordinance 348 states.

The ordinance does allow for two exemptions, one of which protects the right of religious organizations to hire individuals of a particular faith for work connected to their religious activities. The other exemption protects employers that observe the conditions of a “bona fide affirmative action plan or a bona fide seniority system” which is not a pretext to evade the purposes of the ordinance, officials said.

Chris Lee, the greater Elkins area Program Coordinator for Ascend West Virginia, reads a letter of support for Ordinance 348 from local Pastor Robert Bobby Benavides from One Hope Covenant Church, who was unable to attend the City Council meeting.