An anti-LGBTQ social media account with more than 300,000 followers recently stirred controversy about why the City of Columbia asks about job applicants’ gender identity and sexual orientation. But city officials say they’ve been collecting the data for years.
February 15 marks the five-year anniversary of the Columbia City Council deciding to add a diversity statement to city hiring materials.
The application question was recently shared on a Facebook and Instagram post, prompting questions from users.
“These questions, they’re just demographic in nature and entirely optional. And of course, we’re not making appointment decisions or anything like that based on them,” said city spokesman Christian Tabak.
Columbia isn’t the only city to add these questions to their applications for public workers. Cities including Philadelphia, Pa. and Boston have also extended their demographic reach to include sexual orientation.
