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Tempe Becomes Second Arizona City to Approve CROWN Act Legislation


Last month, the Tempe City Council unanimously approved adding the CROWN Act to its anti-discrimination ordinance currently in place.  (That ordinance, in place since 2014, prohibits discrimination against workers on the basis of race, religion, or sexual orientation.)

For those unfamiliar, the CROWN Act (or Create a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Act) is a somewhat common piece of legislation that has been adopted across the country by some cities, counties, and states.  In fact, there has been an ongoing push to get Congress to pass a nationwide version of the CROWN Act, although those efforts are still ongoing.  In relevant part, the CROWN Act prohibits workplace discrimination based on the natural hair or hairstyles of a worker.

With the approval of the CROWN Act in Tempe, the city now joins Tucson as the second city in Arizona to have approved this legislation.  I would suspect that other cities in the state will follow suit, perhaps with Flagstaff being next.


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