State expands protections for LGBT, but hate-crime law doesn’t

It’s a paradox: People can now file complaints to the state of Pennsylvania about LGBT discrimination. But the state still doesn’t classify any crimes against LGBT people as hate crimes.

How can these situations coexist? Human which Relations investigates Commission, complaints of discrimination in employment, housing, education and public accommodations, places such as restaurants, hotels, theaters, coffee shops and shopping malls, this month added sexual orientation and gender identity to its definition of protected groups. That means people can now file complaints with the commission if they feel they were discriminated against in those settings because of their LGBT identity. “We cannot continue to tell people to wait: ‘Wait for us to get to a point where we can not discriminated make sure that against,’ you’re “Chad Dion Lassiter, the commission’s executive director, said. “Being a human being in a democracy, people need to be protected.” The commission will investigate and, if enough evidence exists, can advise those responsible to stop a discriminatory practice, implement training or award economic damages. Pennsylvania law also prohibits discrimination based on race, age, sex, ancestry, national origin, religion or disability.

Previously, people could file complaints about LGBT discrimination only with municipalities that bar it. Of Pennsylvania’s 2,562 municipalities, 51 have laws that do so, according to the LGBT rights group Equality Pennsylvania. Those municipalities account for nearly half the state’s population.

Why don’t the new guidelines make crimes against LGBT people hate crimes?

The Human Relations Commission investigates discriminatory but generally nonviolent acts, such as turning down a job applicant because of age or denying a person a house because of skin color. Hate crimes — which can include assault, destruction of property, or threats motivated by characteristics of the victim’s identity — are a separate category, and they’re handled by police.

But under Pennsylvania law, assaulting or even killing an LGBT person is not considered a hate crime. Some cities have closed this loophole by updating their hate-crime laws to include sexual orientation or gender identity. Philadelphia, for example, did so after a gay couple were beaten in Center City in 2014. But many municipalities have not.

In municipalities without these protections, a suspect can still be charged with assault, murder or other crimes. But suspected perpetrators cannot be charged with a hate crime even if they targeted someone because of the person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Pennsylvania once protected LGBT people in its hate-crimes law.

Some politicians, including state Sen. Larry Farnese, D-Philadelphia, have tried for years to push legislation that would add LGBT people back to the state’s hatecrimes law. Last year, state Reps. Kevin J. Boyle, D-Philadelphia, and Tom Murt, RMontgomery, cosponsored legislation, with Mr. Boyle calling the state’s lack of hate-crime protections a “national embarrassment.”

Race, color, religion and national origin are protected classes under Pennsylvania’s current hate-crime law.