GLBT Legislation and Legislative Advocacy meet-up at Craze

by Mike Mahler

On Thursday, February 18, about 30 people attended a GLBT legislation and legislative advocacy meeting at Craze Night Club. Presenters included Jesse Salazar, who heads Senator Bob Casey's statewide LGBT and Latino affairs, Gary van Horn and Thomas C. Waters from Delta Foundation in Pittsburgh, Mary Styn the aide from Senator Arlen Specters's Erie office and Kyle Hannon from Senator Casey's Erie office.

Jesse, Mary and Kyle addressed federal issues/legislation. Gary and Thomas addressed issues related to Pennsylvania.

Jesse discussed the passage last year of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes law, the first federal legislation to address the rights of LGBT people. The next piece of federal legislation expected to come up is repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It is unclear when the Employment Non Discrimination Act (ENDA) might come up for a floor vote. Dave Martin stated that ENDA is the legislation that would affect the greatest number of LGBT people. Jesse noted that we judge the success of our efforts as activists by the opportunities they create for the next generation.

Gary van Horn discussed the work that Delta Foundation is doing, and talked about the Western PA Advocacy Alliance (WPA3). Thomas Waters discussed the need to defeat Senate Bill 707 (SB 707) in the PA State Senate. Currently, this bill is in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The Delta Foundation is hiring a full-time field organizer to work specifically on LGBT issue advocacy, and will be available to provide training, mentorship, and support to groups across the 23 counties that make up Western Pennsylvania. Delta is also willing to provide support to anyone who wants assistance in meeting with their representative or senator. If you want someone with more experience with the specific legislation to go with you to a meeting, we can provide that assistance.

Gary discussed Pennsylvania House Bill 745 (HB 745), which would add sexual orientation and gender identity/expression to the state's hate crimes laws, and also House Bill 300, which would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to cover sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Pennsylvania had previously passed legislation similar to HB 745 in 2002, but it was removed by a PA Supreme Court decision because of a technicality in the way it had been passed.

All of the speakers expressed the need for people concerned about LGBT equality to engage with their legislators, especially by writing personal letters and calling their local offices, and by meeting with their house representatives and senators. For example, Jesse noted that when the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Law was being considered by Congress, anti-gay activists made over 1,000 calls to Cngressmembers from Pennsylvania but they only received 50 telephone calls in favor of it. Meeting face to face with legislators is best, but even making a phone call that takes under five minutes can have a huge impact.

NOTE: Information about these three bills as well as instructions for doing issue advocacy can be found at www.thomascwaters.com