ACTION ALERT: Contact Allegheny County Council

Back in November we urged our readers to contact Allegheny County Council members to voice their support for an ordinance that would prohibit discrimination in Employment, Housing and Public Accommodations based on characteristics including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. At that point, twelve (out of 15) Council members had signed on as cosponsors of the ordinance.

Now, three members of County Council have withdrawn their support of the legislation. Those members are:

Matt Drozd, District 1, mdrozd@alleghenycounty.us, 412-350-6525

Michael Finnerty, District 4, mfinnerty@alleghenycounty.us, 412-350-6540

James Ellenbogen, District 12, jellenbogen@alleghenycounty.us, 412-350-6580

(Click here for the Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents post that lists the neighborhoods that comprise County Council Districts 1, 4 and 12.)

According to Sue at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, the flip-flop by the above councilors can be attributed to Diane Gramley of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (OMG check out their website and the references to "The Homosexual Agenda"). Ms. Gramley -- and we're pretty sure she hates to be called "Ms." -- isn't even an Allegheny County resident. We're also guessing by the alerts on the AFA website as to which stores are not "Christmas-friendly" that she's a pray-away-the-gay type.

So what can you do?

1) Contact all members of Allegheny County Council to let them know that you support the ordinance (You can bet your rights that the other side already has).

2) Attend the Big Queer Rally Set for Saturday, January 10th in Oakland (more info here).

3) Attend County Council's upcoming public hearing to include sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in the Allegheny County Human Relations Act. That hearing date is set for January 15, 2009.
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