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H. FACTS <br /> On March 11, 2005, the Office of the City Clerk received a letter from Aladean <br /> DeRose, Chief Assistant Attorney and legal counsel to the South Bend Human Rights <br /> Commission. Ms. DeRose attached a document to her letter entitled"Gays, Lesbians, Bi- <br /> sexuals, and Transgendered Persons: Position Statement of the South Bend Human <br /> Rights Commission." This document stated: <br /> The South Bend Human Rights Commission is an agency of the City <br /> of South Bend, Indiana, committed to fair and equal treatment of all <br /> human beings. It is the responsibility and duty of the Human Rights <br /> commission to make sure that no human being is mistreated based on <br /> status,without making value or moral judgments. Gays, lesbians, <br /> bisexuals and transgendered(G, L, B &T)persons have experienced <br /> mistreatment based on their G, L, B &T status. The South Bend <br /> Human Rights Commission supports and encourages the South Bend <br /> Common Council to hear fr om the general public, to explore, <br /> investigate and determine the degree to which G, L, B &T persons <br /> have been treated adversely within the City of South Bend due to <br /> their G, L, B & T status. The South Bend Human Rights <br /> Commission further encourages the South Bend Common Council, <br /> working cooperatively with the South Bend Human Rights <br /> Commission,to create an appropriate remedy. <br /> Subsequently, Council Members Charlotte Pfeiffer and Roland Kelly co- <br /> sponsored Bill 29-06 to amend the South Bend Human Rights Ordinance to include <br /> sexual orientation and gender identity(the "proposed amendment'). The Council has <br /> held public hearings on the proposed amendment. <br /> From the hearings, and otherwise, the legislative record is filled with examples of <br /> sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in the City of South Bend. The <br /> sources of this evidence include, but are not limited to: <br /> m information from community forums; <br /> the interview-based survey of local GLBT individuals prepared by South <br /> Bend Equality (a study approved by the Institutional Review Board at Saint <br /> Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN,presented to the Personnel and Finance <br /> Committee in 2005); <br /> • nationaI, regional and local studies; <br /> • news reports; <br /> • the Indiana Civil Rights Hate Crimes Reporting Network; <br /> • the"South Bend Equality Documentation in Support of Bill 29-06" (presented <br /> to the Personnel and Finance Committee in 2006); and, <br /> • a wide range of public comments. <br /> 2 <br />