(Tallahassee, Florida) For the third year in a row, state Rep. Kelly Skidmore (D-Boca Raton) has filed legislation to update Florida’s laws covering employment, housing and public accommodations to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

“All Floridians should have the opportunity to earn a living and provide for their families without fear of being unfairly fired or denied housing for reasons that have nothing to do with their job performance or their ability to maintain a home,” Skidmore said in a statement.

Currently, the Florida Civil Rights Act protects against discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap or marital status

Florida’s Fair Housing Act currently protects against discrimination in housing and public accommodations based on race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, familial status or religion.

Last year, 31 of Skidmore’s House colleagues signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.   Despite the support, the bill did not receive a hearing.

A Senate version of the bill did not include protections for transgendered Floridians and was opposed by LGBT rights groups.

An inclusive version is expected to be filed later this month.

“Contrary to popular belief, in most parts of Florida it is still legal to fire someone solely because he is gay,” said Palm Beach County Human Rights Council President Rand Hoch.

“Just last month, the manager of a gas station in Lee County reported that he was fired after two years on the job simply for reporting anti-gay comments made by a co-worker.”

The council is the largest LGBT rights group in Palm Beach County.

While Florida has no comprehensive statewide law protecting gay and lesbian employees, several counties and cities have amended their fair employment and housing laws to cover “sexual orientation” or “gender identity or expression.

These laws are in effect in Broward, Leon, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties, as well as in the cities of Gulfport, Gainesville, Key West, Lake Worth, Miami Beach, Orlando, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Tampa and West Palm Beach.

Across the country, 20 states and the District of Columbia have fair employment and housing laws covering sexual orientation. The most recent 13 of these states that enacted these laws also include gender identity or expression.

A poll taken in November by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper found that 89 percent of Floridians believe gays should have the same rights as everyone else to housing, job opportunities and public accommodations.

“Hardworking Floridians should not be fired from their jobs just because they are gay,” said Hoch.  “The time has come for Florida to join the twenty other states which protect gay employees from being unfairly fired.”