CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Council on Tuesday banned discrimination based on natural hairstyles, becoming the first county in Ohio to do so.
The move aligns the county with a growing national movement to protect Black individuals, in particular, from being penalized for the way they wear their hair.
The measure, known as the CROWN Act — short for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair — classifies hair-based discrimination as a form of racial discrimination. It prohibits employers, landlords and other public entities from discriminating against people because of their natural hair texture or styles such as braids, locs, twists or Afros…