Rep. Dan B. Frankel, State Representative, 23^rd Legislative District

 I?m sorry I can?t be here today in person to commend Allegheny County for addressing this critical issue of fairness under the law; but I wanted to put it on record that I very much hope you?ll see fit to create a Human Relations Commission for Allegheny County.

 Pennsylvanians have already decided that discrimination is wrong.

 We?ve decided that it?s wrong when people discriminate based on the color of someone?s skin; whether they get around with the assistance of a wheelchair or a seeing eye dog; or whether they pray in a church, a synagogue, or a mosque.

 It?s time to recognize, as a community, that it?s also wrong to discriminate based on who somebody falls in love with, or how they express their gender.

 As the prime sponsor of House Bill 300, which would extend protection from discrimination to the LGBT community for all Pennsylvanians, I often get asked whether or not the problem of discrimination is real. I can tell you that it is.

 My office gets calls from as far away as the Philadelphia suburbs to report instances of discrimination. And as recent as two weeks ago, a Pennsylvania State Senator, Senator Eichelberger, said publicly about lesbians and gay couples that Pennsylvania ?Lets them exist.? He implied that it?s enough that Pennsylvania doesn?t consider someone gay or lesbian a criminal just for having a relationship with their partner.  

 Well, it?s not enough.

Our LGBT friends, neighbors, taxpayers, business-owners, landlords, tenants and employees deserve much better. They deserve the right to be public about their relationships and identities, without fear that they could be fired, or kicked out of their homes. They deserve to go into a restaurant and not worry about being refused service, just because they?re holding hands.

 The Human Relations Commission will ultimately benefit all residents of Allegheny County, because young people want to live in diverse, inclusive communities. Straight and gay individuals alike want to start businesses in places where fairness is the law.  Already, the majority of Fortune 500 companies, as well as 3 of our bordering states, Maryland, New Jersey, and New York, have non-discrimination laws that protect the LGBT community. A majority of Pennsylvanians know that gender identity and sexual orientation have nothing to do with putting in a good days work.

 I hope that you will take leadership and create a commission that will help protect lesbians, gays, and transgender people from discrimination. And I hope Pennsylvania will soon follow to protect those many people living outside the county borders.

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Public comment of Pittsburgh City Councilor Bruce Kraus at the July 1, 2009 Allegheny County Council meeting.

 Years have passed since the Stonewall Riots gave birth to the fight to achieve social equality for GLBT people everywhere, and yet today, still the struggle continues. We struggle against the modern day Anita Bryant?s of the world, against the stereotypes and myths, against the lies and distortions, against governments determined to deny us our rightful place in society.  Somehow government hasn?t gotten the message that GLBT people will not sit quietly by while being viewed as the last socially acceptable, some even argue justifiable, targets of discrimination with our society.

 

Visionary Pittsburgh leader, Mayor David Lawrence, fully understanding the value of ensuring a ?seat at table? for all people, was instrumental in the establishment of the Mayor?s Commission on Human Relations as far back as 1954; some fifty five years ago.

In 1976, via the City Charter, the Commission was established as an independent agency of City government, renamed the Pittsburgh Human Relations Commission and charged with protecting the rights of every Pittsburgher to equal treatment under the law in issues of employment, housing and public accommodations.

Nineteen Ninety saw the first City Council election by district, assembling for the first time in our history, a governing body truly representative of Pittsburgh, in all its complexity and diversity. It was this council that amended the city charter to include sexual orientation, as a protected class.

A future Council would add gender identity and transgendered people to protected class status. 

And in the years that have passed since the implementation of Pittsburgh?s Human Relations Commission can anyone here speak to me of the negative impact it has had? Has one company refused to locate here because we respect the rights of an individual to employment without discrimination? One family refused to live here because we respect the rights of people to fair housing without discrimination? One handicapped person refused to come here because we respect his right to navigate an unobstructed world?

And yet Bill 4201-08 has struggled for the full support of this council without a clear reason, other than what I see as being misinformation and myth, spread by ill-informed and narrow minded people, claiming religiosity as a shield for prejudice.

And some members of the council worry about the political repercussions of their support.

But I am reminded of a conversation I had with, now Magisterial District Judge, Gene Ricciardi, regarding his election to the first city council elected by district in nineteen ninety, and his support of adding sexual orientation as a protected class to the city charter. A freshman councilman with this whole career before him, faced with this daunting decision, and truly believing it would cost him reelection, Councilman Ricciardi had the moral character to stand for all that is right and cast his vote in the affirmative.

He won reelection with 88% of the vote. 

So how will we dispel the rumors and innuendo, the myths and the stereotypes that protect peoples? thinking that it is somehow acceptable to discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression?

I can only think of one way, and it is how I have chosen to live my life: truthfully and honestly as an openly gay man. It will only be then, when all GLBT people are truly free to live open and honest lives, free of the worry of being fired from their jobs, evicted from their homes or refused public accommodations that people will see the truth.  That we are your son?s and daughters, your mothers and fathers, your teachers, attorneys, doctors and yes, even your elected officials.

Today is your call to courage; the courage to overcome fear and injustice; to leave behind moral cowardice.  Choosing the right thing to do is not always popular or easy, but standing for what is right and true and just, especially when it is unpopular, is the true test of moral character.

Let me be clear in what my message is to you today.  We are not here today asking you for our rights; they are already ours, granted to us by a much higher authority they earthly government. Today, we are here to tell you to ?get out of the way of our rights; we are here to claim what is ours.?

sdf

With the passage of the Allegheny County Human Relations Commission ordinance, Allegheny County has taken a step forward with regard to statewide equality for the LGBTQ community.  I was privileged to be in attendance at last night's meeting and witness this little bit of history.  I want to share with you the reflections of various community leaders before posting my own thoughts.

"While it still stuns me that people actually were against this bill ? that they wanted permission to discriminate and didn?t see any problem with that ? I am grateful today for Councilwoman Greene and the council members who voted yes. They brought the county up to speed with what the city did 2 decades ago, and they fulfilled their responsibility to make Allegheny County a safe place to live and work. I wish Persad Founder, Randy Forrester, was alive today to see this, since he was so active in the earlier city ordinance. I hope that the religious exemption is not used to continue discrimination ? especially in social service agencies that receive public dollars to help people. Most people outside of the LGBT community that I talked to didn?t realize that before this bill passed yesterday, that it was perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay ? most of the Joe Publics of the world realized that this was just not fair."  Betty Hill, Executive Director of Persad Center 

"I am very happy about this and now the battle becomes statewide.We have funded the Women's Law Project who have been working for statewide LGBT rights for years."  August "Buzz" Pusateri, Board Member, Lambda Foundation of Pittsburgh

"The passing of the ordinance was was important for the transgender/transsexual communities in the region for two reasons.  One, the ordinance will help protect trans people within their daily life and two, it showed the support trans people have amongst the local organizations who were adamant in passing an ordinance that includes gender identity and expression." Emilia Lombardi, Ph.D, Pittsburgh's Trans Working Group 

"The Women's Law Project is thrilled that Allegheny County had joined 14 other jurisdictions in Pennsylvania to extend basic protection from discrimination to LGBT people.  We are grateful to the members of Council who stood up for human rights, and especially thankful for the leadership and vision of Councilwoman Amanda Green.  Congratulations to the local LGBT community and their many allies, whose persistence and courage produced a great victory for LGBT people and for all women." Sue Frietsche, Senior Staff Attorney, Women's Law Project

"I applaud the members of the Allegheny County Council who voted in favor of the non-discrimination ordinance. This ordinance will make the law more fair and just in Allegheny County and make us more competitive for attracting and retaining jobs. This vote -- in Pennsylvania's second most populated county -- will also help advance similar statewide legislation in Harrisburg. 

 

"Recent comments by state Senator John Eichelberger highlight why this ordinance is necessary. The senator said, in a public debate, that we 'allow [same-sex couples] to exist,' as if that were all our fellow citizens should expect.

 

"This kind of basic lack of respect for hundreds of thousands of his fellow citizens also jeopardizes economic development for our state. I?m reminded of the Oklahoma state legislator who cost her state 1,000 jobs when she made anti-gay comments last year.

 

"I?m delighted that residents of Allegheny County will now be protected from discrimination but am still concerned that many Pennsylvanians lack this basic protection, even while most residents believe it should be the law. Look at the 71 percent support statewide ? including 63 percent support in the central/'T' region -- for House Bill 300, which would protect people who live or work in Pennsylvania from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression."  Pennsylvania State Representative Dan Frankel

 

"I have a 5 year old grand daughter and i want her to grow up being able to take it as a fact that everyone IS equal. to be able to not even give it a second thought. that it just is how it is, as it should be." Sherry Pasquarello, resident, Allegheny County.

"For the past year, our community has worked with determination and persistence to bring this day about.  Throughout this process, we have formed important relationships, and the unique collaboration between LGBT organizations, allies, grassroots activists, and public officials will continue to serve as a model of effective partnership. "  Steel City Stonewall Democrats 

I've got more to share ... the public comments of Frankel and City Councilman Bruce Kraus and more statements.  But let's stop here and see what I have to think about everything.

I tweeted the meeting, providing my own commentary and observations along with factual information about the discussion.  I lost my signal a few times, but was able to restart and keep going.  The comments from the community were a mixed bag.  The hate directed toward LGBTQ persons was sad, but I was heartened to note the looks of pure disgust in the eyes of various members of Council as folks rattled on and on with the usual vitriole.  A group of ordinance opponents sat next to our little group of lesbians.  The classic moment was when a name tag fell off one man's chest onto the leg of a lesbian.  She handed it back and said "You lost your tag."  I think he may have thanked her.  How can you thank a lesbian so politely one moment and liken her to a pedophile the next?  It really makes no sense.

The Council discussion was heated.  Clearly, this was a tough vote and the opponents gave plenty of airtime to a whole host of excuses to disguise their homophobia and transphobia.  That was really sickening ... the cowardice and pandering to hate mongerers in the name of the most ridiculous rationalizations possible.  Protecting the County from law suits.  Putting civil rights issues before the voters as a referendum.  The Catholic Church didn't have enough time over the past year to review the ordinance.  Undermining the good work of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.  (Note to Matt Drozd:  the Girl Scouts don't discriminate).  None of them had the courage to just admit their bigotry.  It was one of the most pathetic examples of leadership I've ever witnessed.

We won 8-6 which is pretty close.  We won with amendments that legalize religious based bigotry.  We won even though I was almost thrown out of the chamber.   Well, that probably didn't impact anything except Ledcat shortening my leash. 

I enjoyed the post-meeting celebration.  It was nice to spend a few hours awash in a feeling of triumph over intolerance and hatred.  It was pretty cool to watch the various factions interact and listen to the various perspectives. 

The highlight of my evening was Billy Hileman's attendance.  Billy is an advocacy hero in our community and I thought it very fitting that his mantle has passed to Kris Rust, also a teacher and also very humble (and smart).  There's a synergy there that feels right.  Leadership, after all, is earned not purchased or grabbed. 

Last night was a lesson in what's possible.  It is possible to prod a dinosaur like the Democratic Party in this region toward progress.  It is possible for the lessons of our past (City ordinance battle) to inform the challenges of our future (HB 300).  It is possible for two people on opposite sides to have a polite exchange than could possibly break down ugly, misinformed stereotypes.

To paraphrase Betty Hill, it is possible to change something that just isn't fair.

And to that, may I add a heartful "Amen."