Lawmakers in Ireland have strengthened their historic Employment Equality Act that prohibited schools and hospitals from discriminating against gay and lesbian employees by denying any religious exemptions. The exemptions would have applied to Catholic-associated hospitals and schools, by allowing them to take action against employees they felt were “undermining the religious ethos of the institution.”
The new amendment, passed by senate but waiting for the president’s signature, bans religious schools and hospitals from discriminating against members of the LGBT community.
This is just one of a series of laws that Ireland has passed this year to grant equal rights for the LGBT community—including marriage earlier this year. [TNCRM]