PA Commission on LGBTQ Affairs meeting on Nov 15

The Pennsylvania Commission on LGBTQ Affairs held their quarterly on Friday, November 15 at the Bradley-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown PA.

There were reports from the various action teams. The education action team reported that they are focusing on safety and policy, curriculum in schools, as well as training for educators. The Department of Human Services (DHS) is moving forward with an internal LGBT work group. The work group for aging is focusing on the PA Department of Aging's statement on addressing LGBTQ senior concerns and cultural competency. The work group on health is working on addressing policy barriers related to assisted reproductive technology. The PA Department of Health will be rolling out the statewide LGBTQ health needs assessment survey. Help is needed in getting participation from rural parts of the state. The newly formed work group on homelessness is looking at handling housing units for LGBT youth and also educating parents on LGBT in PA. We need to get a database of friendly space for LGBTQ youth. Homelessness and housing are addressed at the county level, so this is a challenge to work on at the state level Progress on passing anti-discrimination legislation at the state level has been slow and steady. It is hoped that this will be introduced in 2020. We need faith leaders, major businesses and health care providers to sign on. The web site for signing up is PAValues.org.

The Statewide plan from the Council on Reform was discussed, which seeks to address concerns of various vulnerable populations (including LGBTQ) by state agencies. The statewide plan is now in the public comment phase.

Department Executive Director of the commission Todd Snovel has stepped down to pursue another opportunity, and new executive director Rafael Álvarez Febo was at the meeting.

Ryan Matthews, the new contact for Human Rights Campaign (HRC) for Pennsylvania attended and spoke.

Also discussed were the challenges for getting complete results for the 2020 decennial US census, due to an unprecedented lack of funding at the federal level.

Photos

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