Poll: Majority of Pennsylvanians support nondiscrimination bill
New data revealed at local hearing on legislation.
By Jen Colletta
PGN Staff Writer
© 2007 Philadelphia Gay News
HEARING PHILADELPHIANS: Rep. Dan Frankel (D-23rd Dist., from left), Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.), her legal assistant Matt Hurlburt and Susan Boyle, minority executive director of the State Government Committee, listen to testimony from the Rev. Timothy Safford of Christ Church during the Nov. 15 hearing in Philadelphia on H.B. 1400, the bill that would include sexual orientation and gender identity in statewide anti-discrimination legislation. Photo: Jen Colletta
A new poll found that a majority of Pennsylvanians support the passage of pending nondiscrimination legislation, according to a statewide GLBT advocacy group, which reported the findings at last week’s public hearing on the legislation.
State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.), majority chair of the House State Government Committee, held the hearing Nov. 15 at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St., to discuss the statewide nondiscrimination legislation, H.B. 1400.
The bill would amend the Human Relations Act of 1955 to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in employment, housing and credit. The Human Relations Act currently prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, age, national origin, handicap or disability, education and the use of a guide dog.
Stacey Sobel, executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, who commissioned the new poll, said that 71 percent of Pennsylvanians supported the bill, regardless of survey participants’ age, gender, geographic region, party affiliation and ideology.
Currently, 14 municipalities across the state, including Philadelphia, have enacted legislation prohibiting discrimination against the GLBT community, but nearly 75 percent of Pennsylvanians live in areas that do not offer such protections.
Hearings were held in Pittsburgh and Erie on Oct. 4 and 5, respectively. Ten individuals from a variety of fields provided testimony in support of H.B. 1400 at the Philadelphia hearing. Josephs said she invited the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference and the Pennsylvania Family Institute, but both organizations declined to attend.
After Josephs welcomed the 40 attendees, the hearing began with the testimony of state Rep. Dan Frankel (D-23rd Dist.). Frankel, who is from Pittsburgh, is the prime sponsor of the bill.
Frankel noted that Pennsylvania’s economy is suffering because of its lack of legislation to protect the GLBT community. He said three neighboring states — Maryland, New Jersey and New York — all have anti-discrimination laws for GLBT individuals.
“Many professionals and entrepreneurs are choosing to build their careers and businesses in places that have demonstrated a commitment to welcoming lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people,” Frankel said. “We need people to choose Pennsylvania as the place they want to live and work. We need to be competitive with states that currently do a better job of attracting the best and the brightest.”
Rachel Lawton, deputy director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, called the state’s lack of GLBT antidiscrimination legislation “unbelievable,” citing that highly qualified potential employees and individuals with perfect credit can be denied employment or loans and mortgages just because of their sexual orientation.
Stephen Glassman, chair of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, cited a 2007 report from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at UCLA as evidence of the far-reaching effects of GLBT discrimination in the workplace: The study found gay men received significantly lower wages when compared with heterosexual men in the same positions, and the unemployment rate of transgender individuals is drastically high.
Glassman said H.B. 1400 is not only necessary for GLBT individuals but for all Pennsylvanians, noting that this amendment would also protect individuals who are not GLBT-identified, but who might be perceived as such and, thus, face similar discrimination.
Joseph Mahoney, executive vice president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, approached H.B. 1400 from a business standpoint: “As a fundamental business principle, we believe that discrimination in the workplace is unacceptable. To attract the best workforce, employers must foster an environment where judgment is based on productivity and performance, and where creativity and knowledge are exchanged freely.”
The Rev. Timothy Safford, rector of Philadelphia’s Christ Church, urged that the bill be adopted but without religious exemptions that he said would permit religious-affiliated organizations to continue discriminating against the GLBT community.
“The power to discriminate on a whim is not right, even for a religious institution,” he said.
The president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, Andrew Susko, offered his organization’s stance on H.B. 1400, looking at the bill as a way to ensure more uniform civil rights to all Pennsylvanians.
“Piecemeal enforcement leads to confusion,” Susko said, referencing that the law should be applicable to all Pennsylvanians, not just those who reside within the 14 municipalities that have adopted the legislation.
Another local lawyer, Katie Eyer, of Salmanson Goldshaw, PC, formerly the Employment Rights Project attorney for Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, said Equality Advocates is only able to take on a limited number of the GLBT civil-rights cases they receive, and the rest often go unrepresented in the courts.
“There are two reasons for this, both of which highlight the very real legal need for H.B. 1400 — legal protections for LGBT workers in Pennsylvania are at best spotty, and many LGBT workers therefore lack any potential cause of action even when they have clearly experienced discrimination, and private attorneys are often reluctant to take the cases of LGBT workers because of the gaps in legal coverage and the legal uncertainty created by the lack of state law protections,” she said.
Stacey Sobel, executive director of Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, submitted the findings of a recent poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research on H.B. 1400. The poll found that the majority of Pennsylvanians supported the bill, regardless of survey participants’ age, gender, geographic region, party affiliation and ideology. The survey, completed Nov. 12, sampled 750 likely Pennsylvania voters by phone and had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent.
Overall, 71 percent of Pennsylvanians polled supported H.B. 1400. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans, 81 percent of Democrats and 77 percent of Independents were in favor of the passage of the legislation. Further, 56 percent of those polled who consider themselves conservatives support H.B. 1400.
The poll also found that 87 percent of people believe discrimination against GLBT individuals occurs in today’s society, and 25 percent personally know someone who has been discriminated against because he or she is or is perceived to be GLBT.
“People who oppose legislation seem to think this isn’t a problem. This poll shows, however, that the problem is significant and needs to be addressed by our legislature,” Sobel said. “The amount of people who support the bill is significantly higher than those who oppose it, and what that shows is that Pennsylvanians are ahead of the law and ahead of the legislature. Most Pennsylvanians believe in fairness and equality.”
Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, could not attend the hearing, but her testimony was read by a transgender woman, who was hesitant to be photographed because she worried about the ramifications of potentially being outed to her employer.
Keisling’s testimony, coupled with the woman’s personal reflections, provided insight into the struggles transgender individuals face on a daily basis, which she said requires “courage and integrity.”
The hearing concluded with remarks by American Civil Liberties Union Legislative Director Larry Frankel, who urged lawmakers not to include religious exemptions in H.B. 1400. Frankel said the Human Relations Act already includes language granting extended employment freedom to religious institutions and said the Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Protection Act adds another layer of protection for religious freedom.
In addition, Frankel cited several instances in which courts upheld the ministerial exception, which he said “bars the judicial branch of government from even considering a whole range of civil-rights claims if there is any threat to a religious institution’s unfettered right to make employment decisions concerning who will perform spiritual functions.”
Although Josephs expressed disappointment that no religious organizations that oppose the bill were in attendance to present their views, she said the hearing was another step in the right direction for H.B. 1400.
“The witnesses were all articulate and their testimony was very helpful,” she said. “Doing this series of hearings raises the discussion and shows us that a vast majority of Pennsylvanians wants to protect people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity. As more hardworking Pennsylvanians can hear and participate in the discussion, we’re closer to passing the bill.”
“This is not radical legislation. The rest of the country is marching ahead of us. This is an issue about social justice and economic vitality for the state,” Rep. Frankel said. “The fact that Pennsylvania has not yet passed this legislation is a stigma for a state that was founded on the basis of trying to extend and protect the minority. This bill is critical for the future of the state.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at jen@epgn.com.