Tag Archives: gender identity

Why Does WESA Think Tony Norman Is the Go-To-Guy on LGBTQ Issues?

Remember when President Obama announced that he supported marriage equality? EssentialPgh

Essential Pittsburgh’s choice to discuss what this meant? Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman.

Remember when Jason Collins became the first openly gay male active in the big four professional leagues?

Essential Pittsburgh’s choice to discuss what this meant? Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman.

Now what does Tony Norman have in common with both President Obama and Jason Collins? He’s not the President. He’s not gay. He’s not a professional athlete. He’s not a sports columnist. He’s not assigned to the White House beat.

I think Tony is a terrific journalist and had some great stuff to share with the audiences on these topics. But I am annoyed the WESA went with the “what does the black community think?” angle on both of these stories. And asked someone who is not a black gay person.

Or, I should say, “homosexual person” because Essential Pittsburgh/WESA also completely blew the headline, too by using the “wayback” machine term homosexual in lieu of accurate language. What’s especially ironic, inaccurate and unfair about that word choice is that while Jason Collins *is* homosexual – the very first member of our community to come out as a professional athlete was Renee Richards, a transwoman. In 1976. Transwomen are not homosexual.

WESA and Essential Pittsburgh can do better.Our region is filled with articulate thoughtful people who could speak to these issues from a variety of perspectives. If they continue to default to Tony, I’m just going to have to believe that they are sinking to an exploitive sensational take on important issues. Or maybe they just want Tony on the air during their pledge drive?

I expect better from public radio. The “Essentially Pittsburgh” element of these stories should center around issues like LGBTQ youth or the abuse Mike Rice inflicted during his reign of terror at RMU or Jeff Karstens disclosure that he has a bisexual relative or Brooks Orpik participation in the “You Can Play” project or PrideNight at PNC Park or the Steel City sports leagues (LGBTQ) or so forth and so on. You can’t swing a Terrible Towel without hitting a local angle on this story that is not a retread of “black people are homophobic” memes.

~~So I’m not donating until they raise the bar~~. I can read what Tony Norman thinks about LGBTQ issues on Twitter. Or ask him. Please. BAR HAS BEEN RAISED – See Update Below.

Tony has enough on his plate. We got this.

UPDATE: So I had a pleasantly surprising call today from Tammy Terwelp, Director of Content & Programming at WESA-FM and Marcus Charleson, Producer of Essential Pittsburgh. They read this post and wanted to discuss my concerns. We ended with their agreement to review the media style guides of the AP and/or GLAAD on LGBTQ coverage and to consult a list of suggested guests or experts when LGBTQ topics arise. That I’m going to create or at least start. How’s that for bloggers having an impact?

BTW, I just made my pledge. How about you? We gotta walk the walk, right?

I wonder if WESA will support my Pittsburgh gear quest for San Jose?

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The Current Status of Equality Legislation in Pennsylvania

I grabbed this snippet summary from HRC:

In May, Pennsylvania House Bill 1434 was introduced which would propose and amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution reading:” Marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.” The bill did not move from the State Government Committee though technically the Legislature is in session until the end of this month. Pennsylvania also has a carryover session, meaning the bill can be considered in 2012. A constitutional amendment must pass two consecutive legislative sessions before it can be put before the voters.

So, no movement from a committee chaired by Rep Darryl Metcalfe (R-Cranberry) seems like a good thing. I’m fairlycertain if I did a man on the street survey, marriage equality would not make the top 10 statewide issues regardless of their personal beliefs on the matter.

Add to that the fact that HB 300, Frankel’s Anti-Discrimination bill, is also sitting in the State Government … that’s a lot of gay agenda on their plate. It has been sitting there since April 2011. Will it come to a committee vote? With the loss of State Representative Chelsa Wagner, a key cosponsor (and our rep) …. what impact will that have?

Senator Brown’s companion Bill in the Senate has been sitting in State Government committee since May 2011. (SB 105o if you are keeping track)
Same with Senator Farnese’s similar bill. That’s been in committee since April. (SB 910)
Hate Crime legislation expanded only to sexual orientation by Rep Harhai has been in Judiciary since May (HB 1535)
Another Hate Crimes Bill sponsored by Rep Depasquale in Judiciary since March (HB 899)
Senator Ferlos’ companion Hate Crimes legislation in Judiciary since March (SB 586)
Hate Crimes Bill in house INCLUDING GENDER IDENTITY by Rep Shapiro in Judiciary since April (HB 1372)
Senator Ferlo has also introduced a Pennsylvania Health Care Plan that includes protections based on sexual orientation AND has provisions to ensure persons for whom English is not their primary language have good information. That legislation is before the Comittee on Banking and Insurance as of October (HB 400)
Senator Washington has introduced legislation to add an anti-bullying bill of rights that DOES include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. It has been in Education since April (SB 191)
A companion HB introduced by Rep Briggs on the topic of bullying. Also includes the best protected class language (HB 1805)
And a sexual education bill sponsored by Rep Wagner now in the Education Committee (HB 416)

That’s ten pieces of legislation that are LGBTQ positive. Yes, they are all in committees, perhaps not to see the light of a Floor vote — but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I didn’t dig deep into the co-sponsors, but there seems to be a solid block of legislators who support LGBTQ rights and that’s bound to be working for us being the scenes as well as in the public act of submitting legislation.

As a community, it is important that we demand inclusion of “gender identity” and “gender expression” in these bills. We are a community, not islands of individual sexualities and genders. If you took note of the horrific violence men and women in the trans community endured this past year (Sunday was the Trans Day of Remembrance) you can not help but realize Hate Crimes legislation is almost pointless without those terms.

And as Ledcat likes to point out, it is perception that drives many assaults – heterosexual women dressed “butch” or women “perceived” to be transgender. You need only look back a few months to the stunning display of ignorance by WPXI when reporting a crime involving biological male suspects who were identifying as women. “Transvestites?” Really, WPXI?

Further examples that we cannot simply say “go forth and protect us” to our legislators. We need to help them craft legislation that is inclusive and impactful. Focusing on protections in the workplace and the general public is a very good foundation. I like the inclusion of educational systems and certainly the health care legislation. I am also pleased that we aren’t losing site of these building blocks toward full equality.

So the session ends soon, but the bills will still be alive in 2012. The battle over redistricting and the 2012 elections enter the mix. My State House district might be sacrificed which is sad. But to some extent it makes more sense to connect Manchester with other Northside communities (unless you attend community meetings and see that the disconnect is alive and well.) Even linking with the Hill District could be constructive (unless you again attend those community meetings.) Wheatley is cosponsoring some of these bills.

Not sure about Ravenstahl. No on anti-discrimination. No on hate crimes. No on bullying. No on sexual education. How would he vote? Well, clearly, we don’t know. But his lack of co-sponsorship on a single piece of LGBTQ positive legislation does not bode well.

Uh oh.

Am I going to spend the next 4 or 6 years focusing on him?

Anyway. This is the state of legislation. I urge you to click through to the topics that are of most interest to you and your family. Then you can easily find the contact information to contact the appropriate member of the General Assembly. I will help you if you need me to do so.

Love to see the Families Like Ours group get active on the education bills. Children from LGBTQ parented families are often targeted by bullies, too.

So let’s get busy …

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Anti-Discrimination Protections in Whitemarsh Township

Congratulations to the residents, elected officials and advocates in Montgomery County’s Whitemarsh Township for establishing discrimination protections for their residents. Springfield and Lower Merion also recently enacted such ordinances for the protections of their residents’ rights to housing, employment and public accomodation.

I believe that brings the statewide total up to 18 municipalities? Here’s a list of the rest: Allegheny County, Allentown, Easton, Erie County, Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lansdowne, New Hope, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Scranton, State College, Swarthmore, West Chester and York. (h/t Equality PA.) Oops, I’m wrong. News reports that PA now has 24 such ordinances. I’ll track down the missing commnities. I do see that Jenkintown has cleared the way for a vote in November.

A critical missing piece is funding. Establishing a volunteer Human Relations Commission is relatively inexpensive, but without investigators (paid positions) … how is it thoroughly investigated much less enforced? The answer lies in a statewide bill to add sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression to the existing Pennsylvania Human Relations law.

But this is still good news … it demonstrates that their is statewide support for these protections, for equality. It also provides time tested evidence that the communities have yet to go to hell in a handbasket. Follow this link to a 2007 chart showing the numbers of PA residents who favor (or oppose) these protections.

Here’s a better list courtesy of the Pennsylvania Diversity Network. Amended is typically when gender identity and/or gender expression was added.

1. Philadelphia* - pop. 1,526,006 (passed this law in 1954, amended 2002)

2. Pittsburgh* - pop. 305,704 (passed this law in 1992, amended 2005)

3. Allentown* - pop. 118,032 (passed this law in 1964, amended 2002)
4. Erie (as part of Erie County) – pop. 101,786 (passed this law in 2002)
5. Reading* - pop. 88,082 (passed this law in 1955, amended 2009)
6. Scranton - pop. 72,485 (passed this law in 2003)
7. Bethlehem* - pop. 71,329 no protections (passed this law on June 21st, 2011)
8. Lancaster* – pop. 55,381 (passed this law in 1991)
10. Harrisburg* - pop. 47,196 (passed this law in 1992)
12. York - pop. 40,862 (passed this law in 1998)
13. State College* - pop. 38,420 (passed this law in 2008)
15. Easton* - pop. 26,080 (passed this law in 2007)

And these 11 PA towns and 2 PA counties also have fully inclusive non-discrimination laws all these laws were passed since 2002 when New Hope was the 1st of the small town to do so: Swarthmore*, Lower Merion Township*, West Chester*, New Hope*, Landsdowne*, Doylestown*, all of Erie County*(2002), all of Allegheny County*(2009), Haverford*, Conshohocken*, Springfield Township* and Newtown Borough, Whitemarsh Township* (passed Nov. 17, 2011).

The groundswell of support is very important. The numbers are growing so we do need a bit mechanism in the advocacy world to track this data. Such mechanisms may exist but not via google searches.

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