Gay marriage advocate sees Pa. lagging behind
-
Evan Wolfson
Share with others:
Evan Wolfson, a Squirrel Hill native, was named by Time magazine in 2004 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world for his work as founder and president of the advocacy group Freedom to Marry.
But in his home state, same-sex marriage is still a long way off.
Mr. Wolfson, 54, said the recent legalization of gay marriage in New York sets an example for its neighboring states and the rest of the country.
It also casts light on the state of gay rights in Pennsylvania, where neither same-sex marriage nor civil unions are allowed -- and where state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, introduced a constitutional amendment in May to define marriage in Pennsylvania as being only between a man and a woman.
"It's very painful for families in Pennsylvania who see, just across the border, real progress being made and feel that Pennsylvania needs to treat everyone more fairly," said Mr. Wolfson, a civil rights attorney in New York.
Mr. Metcalfe said the move in New York could form a galvanizing point for opponents of same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. "It's certainly going to create more momentum here in Pennsylvania," he said last week. "It's an issue that I'll be working on, and I'm sure that I'll have more support now."
Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum, a nonprofit that seeks to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, or LGBT, civil rights, told the Philadelphia Inquirer last week that Pennsylvania was "a backwater when it comes to gay equality."
State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, said that with a Republican state House, Republican state Senate and a Republican governor, the current political climate is particularly unfriendly toward same-sex marriage.
Even when Democrats controlled aspects of state politics in the recent past, Mr. Frankel was unable to pass House Bill 300, which he said was less politically charged than the marriage question. That bill would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to outlaw discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity and expression" in employment, public accommodations and housing.
"Right now, in Pennsylvania, you can fire [people] because they're gay, you can refuse to rent an apartment, you can deny them access to higher education," he said. "That's, in my view, an outrage and an embarrassment that Pennsylvania still has a form of legalized discrimination. We have to get over that hurdle before we address the issue of marriage equality."
First Published July 5, 2011 12:00 am
