LGBTQ In The News

My friend Sue over at Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents is running:

An occasional series where we pose some questions to local LGBTQ folks (and Allies) to learn more about their personal experiences with LGBTQ culture.

And she was nice enough to think that I'd make a good addition to the series.  I have to say that it's very nice to be included in such an illustrious list of people.  Others political type folks thusly profiled:

• Matt Merriman-Preston
• Natalia Rudniak
• Dan Gilman
• Doug Shields
• Tonya Payne
• Sherry Pasquarello
• Bill Peduto
• Bram Reichbaum
• Jeanne Clark

And that's just the names I recognize!

With the self-serving stuff out of the way, let's move on to this short-ish piece in the P-G:

A bipartisan group of state House and Senate lawmakers introduced measures Tuesday to ban discrimination statewide in employment, housing and public accommodations for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pennsylvanians.

The P-G blurb doesn't say much about the legislation (bill numbers? sponsors? nuttin') but this piece from the Tribune-Democrat has a bit more info:

Forty percent of Pennsylvania’s state legislators, including two local senators, sponsored anti-discrimination bills introduced in Harrisburg on Tuesday.

Sens. John Wozniak, D-Westmont, and Richard Kasunic, D-Dunbar, co-sponsored Senate Bill 300, introduced by Sens. Pat Browne and Larry Farnese.

None of the area’s seven representatives co-sponsored House Bill 300, as put forth by Reps. Dan Frankel and Chris Ross.

Now, we're getting somewhere.  Although as of this writing - and this is probably due to the fact that these bills were only introduced yesterday - there was nothing at the Pennsylvania Legislature website for SB300 or HB300 for this legislative session (I'll update this blog post if/when they go "live.").

John Micek at Pennlive his more:

In the press conference, Rep. Dan Frankel, lead sponsor of HB 300, said, ”More and more people inside the Capitol – from both parties — agree with the vast majority of people outside the building on this. Being gay or transgender has nothing to do with your ability to do a good job or to be a good neighbor or tenant. This is just commonsense legislation. Many people think it’s the law already, and it should be.”

And at his legislative webpage, Rep. Frankel has this Sponsorship Memorandum where learn that it's a reintroduction of HB300 from the 2011-2012 legislative session

From Senator Pat Brown's legislative webpage, we find this Sponsorship Memorandum, where we learn that his bill is a reintroduction of SB1050 from the 2011-2012 legislative session.

Back to Micek for the inevitable:

In the House, the bill sponsored by Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, is destined for the State Government Committee.

That matters because the panel is chaired by state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, an outspoken social conservative who once opposed a push by Philadelphia officials to market the city to gay tourists because he didn’t believe tax dollars should be used to “promote immoral behaviors.”

In a phone interview Tuesday, Metcalfe scoffed at Frankel’s bill, charging his House colleague was “out of touch with reality.” Metcalfe said some Republicans on his panel had advised him to bring the bill to a vote just so it could be defeated.

Only if "out of touch with reality" means that when asked this question:

The state legislature is considering several proposals related to gay marriage and civil unions. Would you favor or oppose a constitutional amendmen t that would allow same sex couples to get legally married?

53% of Pennsylvanians polled in this recent Franklin and Marshall poll answered with either "Strongly favor" (37%) or "Somewhat favor" (16%).  Note to the possibly arithmatically challenged Daryl Metcalfe: 37 + 16 = 53 and 53% is a majority.

Remember, Metcalfe's the guy who declared that there's "significant voter fraud plaguing Pennsylvania's elections" even though there isn't any.

So facing facts probably isn't one of his strong points.

Endorsements

There are a lot of progressive people running tomorrow in the PA Democratic primary. Here are some of the best:

STATEWIDE:
Attorney General
Patrick Murphy
Murphy played a leadership role in the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" when he was in Congress. He's also been extremely up front about his pro choice views and against the Republican War on Women.
http://www.murphyforpa.com

Auditor General
Eugene DePasquale
Great on Marcellus Shale and all the other issues you care about! A candidate with strong progressive tendencies, but also "something more essential: a deep-seated commitment towards doing right by all citizens of PA, in a way that transcends ideology."
http://eugene4pa.com

LOCAL:
District 22
Erin Molchany
She's so good, she's endorsed nationally! I'll be hoofing it out to Brookline to phone bank for her this afternoon.
http://erinmolchany.com

District 23
Dan Frankel
An always reliable progressive!

District 24
Edward Gainey
I agree with the P-G -- it's time for a change!
http://edgainey.com

District 56
Marybeth Kuznik
Not exactly from around here, but she's great! She's also the founder of VotePA
http://vote4marybeth.com

Daryl Metcalfe on Fairness

On his campaign website, State Representative Daryl Metcalfe writes:

The founders of our great nation sacrificed to give us a Constitutional Republic as our form of government, and intended for us to prosper in a free market economy. A common theme in our U.S. and State constitutions is that the primary purpose of government is to ensure justice, by protecting the life, liberty and property of the individual citizens of our nation and states. Our government's role was intended to be that of a servant and not a master. Government, with its tentacles of departments and programs, has cast the rights of the individual citizen aside to pursue its own agendas. Government must be downsized, restructured, and brought back to its assigned Constitutional role of protecting the rights of the individual. It should ensure justice so that the people of the Commonwealth may enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Certainly tinged (ok more than just tinged) with conservative talking points, but the overall idea in the above paragraph is found in those last two sentences; that government's function is to protect the rights of the individual so that they may enjoy life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Great idea, no question.  It's good that Representative Metcalfe feels so strongly about it.

But it's not for everyone, it seems.

On Tuesday, Amy Worden of the Philadelphia Inquirer (Can I call it the "Inky"? Everyone else seems to.) wrote:

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act has long banned discrimination in employment and housing on the basis of gender, race, religion, and disability.

Not covered, however, is sexual orientation or gender identity.

State Rep. Dan Frankel (D., Allegheny) has waged a nearly decade-long fight to change that through legislation that would add gay, lesbian, and transgendered Pennsylvanians to the protected categories.

There's more info on the meeting here:

The House Democratic Policy Committee heard from legal and business experts today regarding the impact that discrimination is having on Pennsylvania businesses and local governments and how legislation (H.B. 300) could positively impact the state, according to committee Chairman Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, requested the hearing and served as its co-chair. Frankel has introduced House Bill 300, which would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation based on sexual orientation and gender identity, in the past two legislative sessions.

"In recent polls Pennsylvanians have made it clear that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable in our Commonwealth," Sturla said. "The wave of support is growing across the state in favor of measures like House Bill 300. Representative Frankel has been an outspoken advocate for equality in our state and today’s hearing was essential in exploring some of the elements of his bill."

And that poll data? For that we turn to Tracie Mauriello of the the P-G:

The majority of Pennsylvanians support his effort, according to poll data released this morning by Equality Pennsylvania. Statewide, 69 percent support legislation banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace, public housing and public accommodations, according to the poll. Meanwhile, 24 percent oppose such legislation, 6 percent are undecided and 1 percent refused to answer.

Here's HB 300 in the event you wanted to see it.

Let's close the loop on this. Back to Worden at the Inky:

Despite 64 legislative cosponsors and polls suggesting the majority of the public supports his proposal, Frankel's bill will likely not even get a hearing in the GOP-controlled House.

His bill passed out of the State Government Committee last session, but failed to get a full House vote even when Democrats controlled the chamber.

Obstacles loom larger this session, given the fact that the Republican chairman of the committee that would consider the bill is opposed to it.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R., Butler), the chairman of the State Government Committee, said there were "laws on the books" to protect individuals against discrimination and charged Frankel with attempting to advance a far-left agenda.

"Trying to add additional behaviors to the act would be endless," he said. "Rep. Frankel's obsession with putting sexual behavior into law is offensive to people."

Looks to me if the "laws on the books" were enough, then there'd be no need for Frankel's bill.  And, of course, it's interesting to see that when the bill mentions (as it does) "actual or perceived" sexual orientation or gender identity, Daryl Metcalfe only hears "sexual behavior".  And, of course, it's those "behaviors" that offend him.

Either way, it's obvious that Daryl Metcalfe wants the guv'ment to protect the rights of the individual, just not every individual.