PA House bill would pevent discrimination against gays

More than two decades ago, accountant Dan Miller’s boss fired him for being gay.

Miller, who went on to lead his own accounting firm and become Harrisburg’s city controller, said state legislation making it illegal to discriminate against gays and lesbians is essential and long overdue.

"There are schoolteachers who are not open in their jobs because they are afraid of repercussions," Miller said. "That’s not a positive work environment."

People who’ve been fired don’t always have the money to fight or they are afraid to come forward, he said.

A bipartisan group of state legislators is sponsoring a bill to make it illegal to discriminate against gays in employment and housing. This is a fight some of them have been waging for years.

Twenty-one states, including New Jersey, New York and Maryland, protect the rights of gays and lesbians, as do some Pennsylvania municipalities. Harrisburg was one of the first cities of its size to pass an ordinance barring discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation, doing so in 1983.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, has supported the issue since 2001 and is the lead sponsor of legislation in the House. "It’s the last vestige of discrimination in Pennsylvania," Frankel said.

State Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, plans to introduce a similar bill in the Senate.

The House bill has 62 cosponsors, and the issue traditionally has drawn bipartisan support. Frankel thinks most of his fellow legislators privately support gay rights, but some feel it’s risky to vote for them.

Frankel sees momentum building for the legislation. But he is candid about its chances. He doesn’t expect it will pass in the Legislature this session.

"But I think it’s critical that we put this legislation, to put this issue before the voters of Pennsylvania," Frankel said. "They ought to make this an issue when they’re talking to their elected officials."

A recent poll by Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc. shows most Pennsylvanians support banning discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Support has remained constant over the last eight years, at roughly 70 percent, said Jim Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling. Most Pennsylvanians favor it, regardless of the region where they live or their political party, Lee said.

"I think that really shows Pennsylvanians are really supportive of this legislation," he said.

People support it because it comes down to fairness, said Ted Martin, head of Equality Pennsylvania, which sponsored the poll.

"You should have the right to a job. You should have the right to a home. This isn’t something wild or crazy," he said. "I think people just think the fact that you can be fired or thrown out of an apartment for being gay is pretty astounding."

State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Butler, said most legislators don’t take the proposal seriously. Some religious groups oppose it and the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference said the bill could force religious agencies — such as Catholic schools and hospitals — to abandon their moral code.

Metcalfe sees the whole thing as a nonissue. "I think their legislation is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist."

Most people in his district don’t support giving rights to people based on their sexual choices, he said.

Metcalfe is pushing his own legislation to ensure that marriage is defined only as being between a man and a woman.

Bills to protect gays and explicitly define marriage as a union between a man and a woman have been perpetual bridesmaids, being brought up session after session but never making it down the aisle.

Neither will likely pass this time either, said Chris Borick, a political analyst at Muhlenberg College.

While there are socially moderate Republicans who might support more rights for gay and lesbian Pennsylvanians, that doesn’t mean they want to hurt their standing among their conservative constituents, Borick said.

And even though Republicans control both houses and the governor’s mansion, there isn’t exactly a groundswell in Republican caucuses to define marriage as between a man and a woman, he said.

The Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, along with evangelical Christian groups, have opposed the bill for years, said Francis Viglietta, director of the social concerns at the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference.

"The Catholic Church has the right and duty to establish certain standards of conduct for everyone it employs and to everyone to whom it offers services," he said.

By DIANA FISHLOCK, The Patriot-News