Doraville City Councilmember, and former Victory Fund endorsee, Brian Bates helped pass a measure that bans discrimination based on “sexual preference.” The measure, which passed unanimously, covers gay men and lesbians.

“Doraville has a large GLBT population in the city and we want to be representative of our diverse groups. We also want to attract the very best employees,” said Brian Bates, Doraville’s only openly gay council member.

Presently, the policy excludes discrimination based on gender identity.

The Southern Voice reports:

Bates, who was elected to the Doraville City Council in 2007 and is believed to be the first openly gay Republican elected in Georgia, said he did only want “sexual preference” included in the policy at this point. Bates said he believes gender identity needs to be included in the city’s nondiscrimination statement when more education takes place with city employees, administrators and residents.

“There are some nuances and we are looking at other municipalities [that include gender identity] and working with Georgia Equality and Lambda Legal,” he said.