Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf – Photo: Office of the Governor.
The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has finished seeking public input on proposed guidance that sets forth legal protections for people who are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Currently, Pennsylvania law does not provide protections for LGBTQ people under either the state’s Human Relations Act or the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act. The Republican-controlled legislature has resisted several attempts to prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community in employment, housing, education, or public accommodations.
With the legislature unwilling to act, the Human Relations Commission has looked at how provisions prohibiting sex discrimination can be interpreted to encompass discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. As it is required to do before adopting new regulations, the commission has just closed a period for public comment on their recommendations with respect to sex discrimination and LGBTQ protections.
One of those organizations that submitted comments to the commission is Lambda Legal, a national LGBTQ legal organization. In its response to the guidance, Lambda Legal urges the commission to adopt rules and regulations explicitly prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination, include all of the rationales for why sexual orientation and gender identity should be covered under prohibitions on sex discrimination, and expand the definition of “sex” to include actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or the failure to comply to traditional sex stereotypes.
“The Commission’s proposed guidance clarifying how discrimination against LGBTQ people is prohibited under Pennsylvania law is a welcome and long-overdue step to combat the high rates of discrimination, harassment and stigma faced by LGBTQ Pennsylvanians,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “However, the proposed guidance can be further improved by spelling out the multiple ways in which sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are forms of sex discrimination.”
Of course, LGBTQ allies are not the only ones realizing how groundbreaking the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity protections would be. Social conservatives have urged their ranks to comment on the guidance, raising the specter of transgender women sharing bathrooms with children and cisgender women as a scare tactic.
Writing for The Signal, a publication of the conservative Heritage Foundation, Michael Geer, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, has compared the commission’s proposed guidance to former President Barack Obama’s executive actions and guidance provided by federal agencies under the Obama administration that extended rights or protections to LGBTQ people.
Geer particularly aims his vitriol at Gov. Tom Wolf, who last year installed a new chairman on the Human Relations Commission to “further his agenda.” Geer also accuses the commission of usurping the power that should be left in the hands of Republican legislators in Harrisburg.
“Now in the face of a legislative stalemate, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is making an end run around the Legislature to impose a freedom-robbing policy through a bureaucratic agency that was founded to guard our civil liberties,” he writes.
Randall Wenger, the chief counsel of the conservative Independence Law Center, previously urged social conservatives to flood the commission’s inbox with emails opposing the proposed guidance, which he calls “devastating to personal privacy and religious liberty.”
The period for public comment closed on May 26, but it is unknown how much impact Wenger and other social conservatives may have had in trying to sway the commission’s members to reject the proposed guidance.
“Pennsylvania has long had a commitment to eliminating discrimination and assuring its people equal access and opportunity to all within its borders,” says Lambda Legal’s Gonzalez-Pagan. “We urge the Commission to adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with our recommendations, that guarantee LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming Pennsylvanians an equal opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life within the commonwealth.”
A former firefighter has been awarded $1.75 million in damages as part of a lawsuit alleging she was retaliated against -- after filing a separate lawsuit alleging she was discriminated against.
Lori Franchina, who identifies as a lesbian, first began working for the Providence, Rhode Island, fire department in 2002. She quickly rose through the ranks, ending up as lieutenant, but claims she was mistreated due to her gender and sexual orientation.
She claims to have been subjected to a host of abusive behaviors at the hands of fellow firefighters.
Examples included being called lewd nicknames, such as "Fran-gina," ignored in life-or-death situations, and even having a bloody glove snapped in her face, splashing another person's brain matter into her eyes, nose, and mouth.
The U.S. Air Force is rescinding a ban on including preferred pronouns in email signatures and other communications. The military branch announced the change in a news release.
The reversal was signed by Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Gwendolyn DeFilippi.
The earlier directive, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, was issued on January 31 to comply with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump stating that the United States government will only recognize two sexes -- male and female -- as legitimate.
In new guidance posted to its website, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that healthcare workers, clinic staff, and third parties could file complaints against medical providers thought to be providing people under age 19 with hormones, puberty blockers, and gender-affirming surgical procedures.
LGBTQ advocates are deriding the online portal as a "snitch line."
The guidance is intended to align with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump prohibiting the provision of gender-affirming care to people under the age of 19 and barring federal funds from being spent on medical treatments meant to assist a person of any age in transitioning genders.
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The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has finished seeking public input on proposed guidance that sets forth legal protections for people who are discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Currently, Pennsylvania law does not provide protections for LGBTQ people under either the state’s Human Relations Act or the Pennsylvania Fair Educational Opportunities Act. The Republican-controlled legislature has resisted several attempts to prohibit discrimination against the LGBTQ community in employment, housing, education, or public accommodations.
With the legislature unwilling to act, the Human Relations Commission has looked at how provisions prohibiting sex discrimination can be interpreted to encompass discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. As it is required to do before adopting new regulations, the commission has just closed a period for public comment on their recommendations with respect to sex discrimination and LGBTQ protections.
One of those organizations that submitted comments to the commission is Lambda Legal, a national LGBTQ legal organization. In its response to the guidance, Lambda Legal urges the commission to adopt rules and regulations explicitly prohibiting anti-LGBT discrimination, include all of the rationales for why sexual orientation and gender identity should be covered under prohibitions on sex discrimination, and expand the definition of “sex” to include actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or the failure to comply to traditional sex stereotypes.
“The Commission’s proposed guidance clarifying how discrimination against LGBTQ people is prohibited under Pennsylvania law is a welcome and long-overdue step to combat the high rates of discrimination, harassment and stigma faced by LGBTQ Pennsylvanians,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “However, the proposed guidance can be further improved by spelling out the multiple ways in which sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are forms of sex discrimination.”
Of course, LGBTQ allies are not the only ones realizing how groundbreaking the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity protections would be. Social conservatives have urged their ranks to comment on the guidance, raising the specter of transgender women sharing bathrooms with children and cisgender women as a scare tactic.
Writing for The Signal, a publication of the conservative Heritage Foundation, Michael Geer, the president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, has compared the commission’s proposed guidance to former President Barack Obama’s executive actions and guidance provided by federal agencies under the Obama administration that extended rights or protections to LGBTQ people.
Geer particularly aims his vitriol at Gov. Tom Wolf, who last year installed a new chairman on the Human Relations Commission to “further his agenda.” Geer also accuses the commission of usurping the power that should be left in the hands of Republican legislators in Harrisburg.
“Now in the face of a legislative stalemate, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is making an end run around the Legislature to impose a freedom-robbing policy through a bureaucratic agency that was founded to guard our civil liberties,” he writes.
Randall Wenger, the chief counsel of the conservative Independence Law Center, previously urged social conservatives to flood the commission’s inbox with emails opposing the proposed guidance, which he calls “devastating to personal privacy and religious liberty.”
The period for public comment closed on May 26, but it is unknown how much impact Wenger and other social conservatives may have had in trying to sway the commission’s members to reject the proposed guidance.
“Pennsylvania has long had a commitment to eliminating discrimination and assuring its people equal access and opportunity to all within its borders,” says Lambda Legal’s Gonzalez-Pagan. “We urge the Commission to adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with our recommendations, that guarantee LGBTQ and gender-nonconforming Pennsylvanians an equal opportunity to enjoy a full and productive life within the commonwealth.”
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