The people are speaking
Political consultant James Carville once described Pennsylvania as “Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in the middle.” It’s not without reason to suggest that the Keystone State is, in fact, the most backward-thinking state in the Northeast.
For example, Pennsylvania is the only state in the region in which it remains legal to fire someone based on his or her sexual orientation. But there are signs that the people of this state – if not their lawmakers – think it’s high time for a change. A new Susquehanna Polling and Research survey finds that more than 70 percent of Pennsylvanians want to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Another recent poll found a majority – 54 percent – who want to see gay marriage made legal here. That last figure represents a sharp increase from the 33 percent who supported gay marriage in a similar poll just seven years ago.
Once again this year, there is a bill about to be introduced in the state Legislature to make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal, but getting the folks in Harrisburg to approve the measure – or even vote on it – might prove a tall order.
Said the bill’s main sponsor, Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, “It is very perplexing. I think the Legislature is much more conservative than the rest of the state. You see it on guns, you see it on women’s reproductive rights, and you see it on LGBT rights.”
We would hope that the growing number of rank-and-file lawmakers who support the pending legislation will find a way to get it past Neanderthals like Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, an opponent of equality who leads the gateway House State Government Committee, and do the will of the people, for the good of all our people.