Assure equality for a half-million LGBTQ Pennsylvanians
As a Pennsylvania faith leader, I am hoping Sens. Pat Toomey and Bob Casey can lead the way in finding common ground to ensure fairness and equality for all Americans.
For decades, Congress has ducked its responsibility to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination — but with both parties now offering proposals to get that job done, 2021 could finally be the year.
A Republican from Utah, Rep. Chris Stewart introduced House Resolution 1440, the Fairness for All Act, in February. That bill, which would prohibit “discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity” is still before a House subcommittee.
Also, in February the House passed HR 5, the Equality Act, introduced by a Democrat from Rhode Island, Rep. David Cicilline. The Equality Act would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
I look to Pennsylvania’s Sens. Toomey and Casey to join to help hammer out the details of this crucial legislation.
I grew up in a conservative family and faith tradition in Arkansas. The idea of someone being gay — when it was thought about at all — was discussed as a sin.
That didn’t make much sense to me, but as with so much in life I didn’t take a careful look until the issue became personal. When my younger sister came out as a lesbian in college, our family chose, in an intentional and inclusive way, to live God’s extraordinary love instead of the judgment our tradition embraced.
As an adult, my study convinces me that Jesus teaches a love that can only include. Our highest call is to God’s justice; discrimination and unfair practices are unjust. We are called to enact love and lift our voices for full inclusion.
I came to the First Presbyterian Church of Stroudsburg nearly five years ago after leading a congregation in North Carolina. When the More Light movement began in the Presbyterian Church — a movement that welcomes LGBTQ people into the full life of a congregation’s faith community — I felt strongly that this was the right direction for Christians to go.
The practice of our faith in community led the membership of both congregations to live into grace and inclusion by choosing to be identified as More Light Congregations. Stroudsburg is a welcoming community for everyone — LGBTQ people included — and our congregation’s arts events are vivid examples of how diversity draws us together and enriches all our lives.
I lived in a wide variety of communities before moving to Stroudsburg, and I’m aware that not all LGBTQ Americans experience the full embrace we have committed ourselves to learning and living.
Discrimination has profoundly damaging consequences for LGBTQ Americans nationwide. One in three, according to a 2020 survey, experienced discrimination — in public spaces, on the job, in schools, and in their own neighborhoods — in just the previous year.
That number rises to 60% among transgender people, who experience exceptionally high levels of unemployment, poverty and homelessness. They are also stalked by violence, with a record 44 hate-motivated murders nationwide last year.
Black and Latino LGBTQ folks face greater poverty rates than communities of color generally. Less than half the states protect the community’s youth from bullying in school and even fewer offer nondiscrimination protections. And elders often find themselves having to recloset themselves, with nearly half of same-sex couples reporting discrimination in seeking senior housing.
LGBTQ Pennsylvanians still enjoy no statewide nondiscrimination protections, and there is no law protecting youth from school bullying or harassment, either.
We hope that Congress might finally act. The major disagreement between the two parties involves balancing the urgent need to protect LGBTQ people with the religious freedoms we cherish.
Finding a path to getting that job done is what legislators do when they commit to solving problems. And Sens. Toomey and Casey can look to the 21 states — including our neighbors Maryland, New Jersey and New York — with laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ people without compromising religious freedoms.
Washington can follow suit, with senators reaching across the aisle to end the divisive pattern that pits religious liberties against the rights of LGBTQ Americans. Every major civil rights advance, from the 1964 Civil Rights Act to the Americans with Disabilities Act, has found the appropriate balance.
Sens. Toomey and Casey: The half million LGBTQ Pennsylvanians, their families and their friends are counting on you.