City of Palm Springs Takes A Stand On Discrimination

The Palm Springs City Council received cheers when they unanimously passed an anti-discrimination ordinance at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. Council member J.R. Roberts says he’s proud his city is taking a stand, "I’m always excited when our city leads the way in something like non-discrimination because Palm Springs prides itself on being inclusive at every level." Council members came up with the idea after President Donald Trump signed executive orders on immigration. The ordinance prohibits the city from providing services to people based on many factors including: religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability and immigration status. While the city says this doesn’t change practices in place now it does send a message and erase any doubt. "And now having a codified ordinance that makes us non-discriminatory on every level sort of solves the problem for good," says Roberts. Chief Bryan Reyes say this ordinance reflects the Palm Springs Department’s mission statement and reinforces the trust between officers and the community, "You’re going to have suspects continuing to commit crime if they feel comfortable that there’s fear of people not coming forward to report and work with us in solving crime," adding there are checks and balances in place and his department would never compromise the community’s safety to protect a dangerous criminal. Business tourist Kim Loveridge says she was apprehensive about traveling to the U.S. because of the political climate, "I don’t like what’s been happening and I was actually concerned about coming to the U.S. because of those changes," adding that knowing about the ordinance makes her and her business colleague feel they made the right decision in choosing Palm Springs, "I’m grateful to see that cities like Palm Springs are going independently and putting a foot forward."