Bettendorf’s city council has approved the first-reading of a measure to add sexual orientation to the city’s human rights code. The city’s Human Rights Commission had recommended the change. Bob Nakamaro is a former member of that commission who spoke in support of the change. He urged the city council to vote for an inclusive, united and progressive community. The five-to-two vote to add sexual orientation to religion, gender and other factors in the city’s human-rights code is the first of three the measure must pass. Nakamaru told the board he lives in the Quad Cities because he’s Japanese-American and his wife is white and they wanted a community in which discrimination was not accepted. Nakamaro says all people who work, live or visit in Bettendorf have the right to be free from prejudice and discrimination because of any group they’re a member of. The vote was five -to-two in favor of the controversial ordinance. It must still pass two more votes to become law. Nakamaro says the social fabric is different than it was 30 years ago and society and the community have been changing. He says people today recognize that homosexuals should have equal rights in job opportunities, housing and public accomodation. The change would make Bettendorf’s city human-rights code similar to the code that’s already in place in Davenport.