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Flurry of gay rights bills win public support but face wall of GOP opposition
PA Republicans don't care that inheritance rights, gay marriage and protection from discrimination have public support. And Rick Santorum complains about "Google problem." Again.
Flurry of gay rights bills win public support but face wall of GOP opposition
This has been a busy week for gay rights legislation in Pennsylvania: inheritance rights, gay marriage and protection from discrimination. The general public--yes, even in Pennsylvania--supports gay rights legislation, including a remarkable fifty-percent that favor same-sex nuptials. But the Republicans who control the governor’s mansion and the entire state legislature disagree: they don’t like the gays.
Indeed, as I noted in July, far-right State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe is now a major power in Harrisburg, anchoring the right wing of a fantastically conservative GOP caucus:
He opposed Philly's program to market the city to gay tourists, saying that tax dollars should not be used to "promote immoral behaviors"; he tried to cut state funding to universities such as Temple because they offer domestic-partner benefits; he sued a gay New Hope couple for attempting (and failing) to get a marriage license; and he opposed Domestic Violence Awareness Month, calling it part of "the homosexual agenda" to support a "sinful lifestyle" because it recognized male victims of rape.
But as State Senator Daylin Leach told Will Bunch in a recent Daily News article, the political shift is generational--and thus inevitable.
“Every day a supporter of equality is born,” he said, “and an opponent of equality goes to heaven.”
So while this legislation is unlikely to pass right now, it’s worth taking a look at what sort of protections a future legislation is likely to enact.
To recap:
- Rep. Dan Frankel of Pittsburgh has re-introduced legislation that would add “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” to the state’s non-discrimination law.
Rep. Metcalfe, objected, telling the Inquirer that “Rep. Frankel's obsession with putting sexual behavior into law is offensive to people.” Metcalfe, of course, harbored no such obsessions when he introduced a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage. He doesn’t even really think about gay dudes, really.
- State Rep. Babette Josephs, the progressive firebrand who represents parts of Center City that include the Gayborhood, has introduced legislation that would include domestic partners along with married couples on the list of people exempt from paying state inheritance taxes.
- Josephs’ bill would be somewhat moot, however, if gay marriage were legalized (I say “somewhat” because it would be nice if non-married families of all sexual orientations could maintain legal rights). So Rep. Josephs also introduced legislation to legalize gay marriage.
In other news, our former senator and current presidential candidate Rick Santorum is complaining about his “Google problem” again: sex columnist Dan Savage repurposed “Santorum” to be a word for the frothy byproduct of anal sex to punish Rick for his relentless homophobia.
Santorum says that he bets Google would have solved the “problem” if it were happening to Joe Biden. Santorum is not Joe Biden, the crucial difference being this: unlike Santorum, Biden is well known for a number of things that are not homophobia or butt sex. That Google algorithm has its ear to the ground. Don’t shoot the messenger.
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