Tag Archives: HB 300

Post-Gazette Reminds Us That Most LGBT PA Residents Can Be Fired For Being Gay

It is always worth repeating this mantra – we can be fired based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. The Post-Gazette took some time to do this.

In nearly 70% of the state, there is no protection. Your boss can fire you for being gay. Your landlord can refuse to renew your lease. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Only 3 counties and 26 municipalities have local protections.

This is not only unjust and leaves us economically vulnerable, but its bad for business period.

Ted Martin, the executive director of Equality PA — an advocacy group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community — said Pennsylvania stands out among states in the region for not having civil rights legislation to protect the community he represents. New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland have sexual orientation written into their civil rights laws. Pennsylvania has ordinances at the municipal level in places such as Harrisburg, which has had that protection since 1983, and Pittsburgh, which adopted the legislation in 1997.

“Pennsylvania is very far behind on this issue,” Mr. Martin said. “All of these states around us have these protections, and Pennsylvania stands out like a sore thumb.”

He said he has been called by executive recruiters who ask about legal protections for their gay clients in Pennsylvania and he has to be honest and say there are none. Some talent has not come to the state because of the lack of civil rights protections.

The lack of job protections is often misunderstood. It is important to bring this up with your friends – make sure they have good facts. Why? Because Rep Dan Frankel will introduce legislation to address this once again and they only way for it to gain traction is for people to call their State Reps. They need to make the economic argument – our ability to be contributing, tax paying citizens is threatened, to support our families, to be treated fairly in the workplace.

Also, let them know that there is NO national protection. The Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) has not passed and continues to face an uphill battle. The good news is that it was included in the Democrat agenda.

It is also important to remember that this impacts heterosexual people, particularly gender non-confirming women. It happens.

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Pennsylvania Approval for Marriage Equality On The Rise

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Yet two recent polls have found that support for same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania is rising near or above 50 percent. For the first time since Muhlenberg College started polling on gay marriage, most Pennsylvanians indicated in December 2011 that they believe same-sex marriage should be legal. Susquehanna Polling and Research found earlier in 2011 that Pennsylvanians support legislation banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation by a 2-to-1 ratio.

State Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, credited President Obama’s May announcement in support of gay marriage for spurring dialogue among lawmakers and voters who had once opposed it. Mr. Barack Obama described how he changed his mind on marriage as he grew to know gay friends, soldiers and staff members in committed relationships.

“When Pennsylvanians call themselves conservative, I don’t believe they mean nastiness, discrimination, hate,” Ms. Josephs said. “They mean let’s be fair, let’s take things a little slowly and think about them. And that’s what happened when the president opened the conversation in the way that he did.”

This is part of a rather sweeping piece about marriage equality, starting with the attempts by a local lesbian couple to sign up with the “domestic partner registery” offered by the City of Pittsburgh and ending with the Mayor’s support for marriage equality.

Along the way, the reporter delves into the politics of “marriage protection” amendments, the impact of equality on economic and workforce development and the national prominence of a native son (Evan Wolfson) in the marriage equality discussion.

Josephs’ spin on the “conservative” nature of Pennsylvania residents is intriguing. I agree that the President paved the way for more dialogue and I agree that social conservatives want to take things slowly, but not “let’s be fair.” I suspect it is a weird fusion of ”live and let live” libertarian values with conservative religious values that define the areas where someone should tell us how to live (namely, the Christian God and his emissaries.)

The incremental approach would explain the changing attitudes – more Pennsylvanians are getting to know LGBTQ persons, both in real life and through entertainment. The same disconnect exists in the Catholic Church – as the church itself becomes less tolerant, American Catholics move to the left.

Notice the parallel between the church and the Pennsylvania state?

As I’ve said before, passing the non-discrimination legislation should be paramount. HB 300 would give all LGBTQ persons protection in the workplace, housing and with public accomodations whereas marriage equality typically benefits lesbians and gay men and bisexual men & women in same sex relationships. HB 300 is the lynchpin to make a significant advance for our community.

Another good job from the Post-Gazette. I wish they would be a little more consistent in the fairness & accuracy of their reporting, but we’re working on that. Let me know if you pick up on the elements I’m referencing.

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Senator Casey (D- PA) Statement on ENDA Hearing; the Status of Employment Equality in PA

Senator Casey oft considered a very moderate Democrats is co-sponsoring the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)which would prohibit discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) today attended a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing on the bipartisan Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Senator Casey, a cosponsor of ENDA, called for the hearing in a bipartisan letter to the HELP Committee last month.

“I’m pleased that the Senate’s HELP Committee held a hearing today on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act,” said Senator Casey. “I hope that this is the first step towards swift and bipartisan passage in both the Senate and the House. ENDA embodies the American ideal of fairness: employees should be judged on their skills and abilities in the workplace, and not on their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

This week’s hearing was groundbreaking as the first transperson gave official testimony. (Watch the video)

ENDA flyer from PFLAG

Many people mistakenly think these protections already exist. In fact, ENDA has been on the table for 30 years. In fact, there are a few other things you may not realize about ENDA.

A few years after Stonewall, Reps. Bella Abzug (D-NY) and Ed Koch (D-NY) introduced the Equality Act of 1974, which sought to ban discrimination against gay and lesbian individuals, unmarried persons, and women in employment, housing, and public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, museums, libraries, and retail stores. The act marked the first-ever national piece of proposed legislation that would end discrimination against gays and lesbians in the United States. It did not, however, include transgender people. The bill did not pass.

While the Equality Act of 1974 was broad, ENDA is narrowly focused on a single issue: employment discrimination. Lawmakers first introduced ENDA in 1994. That version of the law would have made it illegal to discriminate against employees in all aspects of employment based on a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation (gender identity would not be added until 2007).

In 2007, the community was divided about whether an “inclusive ENDA” was necessary versus supporting a LGB only version and hoping to bring the T community along later. This has been soundly rejected by advocates and rightly so. Incrementalism is not the same thing as throwing some of our most vulnerable individuals under the bus. It is also self-defeating as persons who are LGB and “act or dress” in a gender non-conformative way can still be fired for that.

Acquaintances have told me that ENDA was separated from housing and public accomadation protections because President Clinton promised to get it through. That proved misleading, but the truth is that we need to continue educating our allies, our elected officials and our COMMUNITY about the need for this very important protection.

In Pennsylvania, 28 municipalities have local ordinances around workplace discrimination. Pennsylvania is comprised of 2,563 municipalities and 63 counties. More specifically, we have 56 cities, 958 boroughs, 1547 municipalities and one town. Here’s a better way to illustrate:

The areas with the blue pins are where we have protections. The pins for Allegheny, Erie and Philadelphia are for the entire county, but I think this does justice in showing that a statewide ordinance is imperative as well as a federal ordinance – imagine what this map looks like in red states? TN actually bans municipalities from enacting these ordinances!

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Pennsylvania Democrats Endorse Marriage Equality With Some Naysayers

The Pennsylvania Progressive has the scoop on this weekend’s events in which the Pennsylvania Democratic Party supported adding marriage equality to the party platform.

I got a tingling sensation all over as Pennsylvania Democrats overwhelmingly approved a resolution endorsing marriage equality today. In an emotionally charged meeting with impassioned speeches for women’s rights and gay rights the State Committee, meeting in Valley Forge in a hotel infamously built by non union labor, voted to enter the 21st century.

The sad and pathetic part and the part to which we must focus our attention came from the Southwestern PA Caucus. John Morgan of the Pennsylvania Progressive tried to observe the caucus discussion on the marriage item, but was removed from the meeting by Jack Hanna. This violates the DNC’s own rules about public participation in the Caucus. Nice. Democracy in action a la Citizens United?

A committeeman from Cambria County got very vocal at that caucus meeting invoking Biblical passages. Of course this is a legal matter not a religious one. The Bible also allows slavery, condemns people who eat pork and shellfish and says you shouldn’t cut your hair. So much for ancient abominations. The caucus voted 11-7 in support of the bill.

So we have 7 folks with whom we need to build relationships and do some education. Can we identify those persons? Well, we can ask. I can ask.

It is an exciting moment, but we must remember that Pennsylvania has NO statewide LGBT rights and that a marriage amendment has been introduced in the last 4 sessions I believe? While at Netroots Nation this past week, I learned a somewhat discouraging fact – many progressives do not know what ENDA is. By focusing so much messaging on marriage equality, we’ve dropped the ball elsewhere.

Will this be a wedge issue in Pennsylvania come November? Somehow I doubt it – I think the economy and the draconian state budget is going to keep people occupied. It is perfect timing to push the workforce development/economic development issues related to employment non-discrimination protections found in HB 300.

But the rhetoric from the right wing continue to pound us … I anticipate the politicians will reel it back to come after Obama on the economy, but the faith based folks are going to spend those millions. Our best defense is an offense – know the facts on marriage and focus on the fairness factor of non-discrimination.

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