The following testimony was submitted to the House State Government Committee on September 16, 2011 urging the General Assembly to pass this long overdue nondiscrimination legislation.

The Liberty City Democratic Club thanks the committee for accepting our written testimony on the importance of HB 300.  Our organization was founded in 1994 by activists who wanted to build lesbian and gay power and involvement in the Democratic Party.  The goals of our organization are: to register, educate and mobilize lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) voters; to elect openly LGBT candidates to public office; to support LGBT-friendly candidates; to work to oust anti-gay office holders; to promote legislative issues of importance to the LGBT community; and to provide a forum for LGBT voters to meet candidates and officeholders.  We have over 4,000 members throughout Philadelphia, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, and Bucks Counties.  Our members, like any LGBT Pennsylvanians, are your family members, your friends, your neighbors, and your constituents.

Liberty City supports HB 300.  Adding sexual orientation and gender identity or expression protection to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act will make our Commonwealth a fairer place and a better place to live.  This law is necessary, it is fair, and its time has come.

The law is necessary because LGBT Pennsylvanians face discrimination every day.  Pennsylvania is a state built on a foundation of tolerance[1], not on hate; yet, without this legislation our citizens face eviction from their homes, termination from employment, and denial of basic services, simply because of who they are and who they love. No one would accept it if a Pennsylvanian could be turned away from a restroom because he was black.  We would all be outraged if a Pennsylvanian was denied a job simply because she was a woman, and our society wouldn’t permit a family to be denied housing because of their religious faith.  Discrimination against LGBT Pennsylvanians is just as hurtful and just as outrageous as discrimination based on race, gender, or religious intolerance.

HB 300 is also necessary because local ordinances can’t do enough to protect Pennsylvanians from mistreatment.  The growing patch-work of local antidiscrimination ordinances that include protection against LGBT discrimination still leaves 73% of Pennsylvanians without recourse[2].  Even those fortunate enough to live somewhere with a local ordinance aren’t guaranteed protection.  Lancaster City has a local ordinance that includes protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation[3], yet with the closure of its Human Relations Commission last year, there is now no clear path for enforcement of the law[4].  Without a comprehensive law covering the Commonwealth, organizations who discriminate look for loopholes in existing local ordinances.  In 2009 the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) was sued by transgender Philadelphians for violating the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance by requiring gender stickers on transportation passes. SEPTA’s response wasn’t that their conduct was nondiscriminatory.  It wasn’t that economic realities justified their policy either.  Instead they argued that as a state agency they were exempt from the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance, essentially saying that they were discriminating but that no one could stop them.  Sadly, the courts agreed.  In SEPTA v. City of Philadelphia, the Commonwealth Court gutted the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance by exempting SEPTA and any state agencies from compliance, concluding the city did not have jurisdiction over them to enforce its ordinance[5].  When local ordinances fail to adequately protect Pennsylvanians from discriminatory treatment, the state must step in to offer broader protections from harm.

HB 300 is not only necessary, but it is also fair.  This committee may hear objections from religious leaders during these proceedings, claiming that HB 300 is a step on the road to legalizing gay marriage or that their rights to religious freedom will be impinged by such legislation.  While Liberty City strongly supports marriage equality, we also know that a nondiscrimination ordinance is different from gay marriage.  In many ways, it is more important. A nondiscrimination law would directly affect our basic means for daily survival.  Not every Pennsylvanian may want to get married, but don’t we want every Pennsylvanian to be able to work and to have a place to live?  Shouldn’t every Pennsylvanian be able to ride public transportation or use a public restroom without harm?  Those who seek to blur the line between marriage equality and nondiscrimination look to play on fear and prejudice, which is exactly what good government shouldn’t allow anyone to do.

Protections already exist for religious institutions that would prevent HB 300 from infringing on their religious freedoms. Pennsylvania’s Religious Freedom Protection Act,[6] adopted in 2002, protects the free exercise of religion for individuals and, as interpreted by the courts, for institutions as well.  All state and local laws or ordinances are subject to its provisions[7].  This law ensures that passage of HB 300 won’t mean that religious institutions have to hire LGBT clergy.  It may mean that religious institutions can’t fire a gardener, simply due to sexual orientation, but, put plainly, they shouldn’t be able to.  We would like to live in a Pennsylvania where they can’t.  HB 300 and existing religious protections in place mean that all Pennsylvanians would be treated fairly and religious organizations would be protected to practice what they preach.

This law is needed. This law is fair, and HB 300 is a law whose time has come. Of our neighboring states- Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Maryland all include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination laws[8].  The only neighboring states that do not are Ohio and West Virginia[9].  The 2010 census counted 12,702,379 Pennsylvanians[10].  If 10% of the population identify as LGBT,[11] that means that more than 1.2 million Pennsylvanians[12] are subject to losing their jobs, losing their homes, and losing basic public services simply because of who they are and who they love.

We could tell the General Assembly that you should pass this legislation because acceptance of LGBT relationships is increasing, and that would be true[13].  We could tell you that you should pass this legislation because LGBT Pennsylvanians are passionate about issues that matter to us and we vote.  That would be true too, but that isn’t why you should pass HB 300.  HB 300 is needed.  It is fair.  It’s time is overdue.  All true too, but you should pass HB 300 because no Pennsylvanian should be subject to discriminatory treatment because of who they are.  Pass this legislation because it is the right thing to do, by all of us.      

Respectfully submitted by Liberty City Democrats Board:

• Lee Carson, Co-Chair
• Stephanie Haynes, Secretary
• Eric Cheung, Treasurer
• Dwayne Bensing, Member
• Sherrie Cohen, Member
• Sara Jacobson, Member
• Micah Mahjoubian, Member
• Howard Moseley, Member
• Su Ming Yeh, Member