MADISON, Wis., April 2 (UPI) -- Discrimination against atheism was banned on Tuesday in Madison, Wis., after a city council vote -- a first in the United States.

"Nonreligion" was added as a protected class by the Common Council under the city's equal opportunity ordinance. The legislation was co-sponsored by 14 of the council's 20 members and was approved without objection.

"This is important because I believe it is only fair that if we protect religion, in all its varieties, we should also protect non-religion from discrimination. It's only fair," ordinance sponsor Anita Weier said. "There are many categories that are protected... and it did occur to me that if religion was then perhaps the opposite should be."

The ordinance states: "Atheism means the disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods." The ordinance protects people who don't believe in God, commonly called atheists, from discrimination in the areas of employment, housing and public accommodations.

Former Atheists Humanists and Agnostics president Chris Calvey spoke in favor of the legislation.

"It's actually something we're commonly very concerned about, just because atheism is viewed as such a taboo in this country, and there's such a stigma with it," Calvey said. "People in my student group, for example, are very hesitant to be honest about their lack of belief in God out of fear that they are going to be discriminated against... if that came up in a job interview that's held against them."

The Common Council approved the legislation in the last meeting before elections.

"Having it on the books, where we're legally a protected class, that'll make things much easier for atheists," Calvey added. "And we'll be able to be confident that at least if we're honest about what we actually believe, then we have the law backing us up so we can't legally be discriminated against."

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Madison, Wis., first city to ban discrimination against atheists