Hate Crimes Bill Victory in PA Senate
"SPARC" VICTORY ON FULLY INCLUSIVE HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION IN PENNSYLVANIA STATE SENATE: 12:40 AM, JUNE 22, 2001
In a stunning and unexpectedly strong vote of 32 to 15 the Pennsylvania Senate passed fully inclusive hate crimes legislation in an amendment offered by Senator Allen Kukovich (D. Westmoreland County) to HB 1493 at 12:40 am only minutes before the Senate adjourned for their summer recess. After weeks of uncertainty and nearly continuous lobbying and advocacy efforts by a broad coalition of activists led by organizational and individual members of SPARC (the Statewide Pennsylvania Rights Coalition) and PAGALA (the Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Political Action), the state has seen the passage in one house of the legislature of its first, and truly historic, piece of pro-active legislation protecting the rights of its lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens. The State Senate in the Commonwealth has now passed what is thought to be the most inclusive language of any hate crimes bill in the country. Bill 1493 adds "actual or perceived ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity" to the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act which, until now, has protected people only on the basis of "race, color, religion, or national origin".
Many individuals and elected officials contributed to this extraordinary effort and deserve recognition and support for this remarkably unified campaign to achieve the first of our many rights in Pennsylvania. In the LGBT community this effort was led by the heads of a number of organizations (Steve Black from PAGALA, Steve Glassman from SPARC, Stacey Sobel from the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, David Greer from the Log Cabin Republicans of Pennsylvania, Mara Kiesling from the Pennsylvania Gender Rights Coalition and SPARC's co-ordinator, along with many others who gave significantly of their time at various points in the process). Among our elected officials Senators Joe Conti (R.), Charlie Dent (R.) and Allen Kukovich (D.) deserve special recognition and acknowledgement for their tireless efforts and unwavering commitment to this issue. All twenty Democrats and twelve of the thirty Republicans joined together in a bipartisan effort to ensure that the most vulnerable citizens of this state would be able to live with the legal protections of inclusive hate crimes legislation.
A joint press release will be issued within the next two days which will more fully describe the successful passage of this bill in the State Senate. Needless to say, those of us in attendance after midnight were overwhelmed with emotion as we watched the vote talley advance in our favor in the fourth floor gallery of the state capitol building. After winning a procedural vote on the rules by 26 to 21 to allow HB 1493 to proceed to a vote, then defeating an amendment by Senator Gerlach by 31 to 16 to substitute general language for the inclusive protected class language SPARC has been advocating for four years, then winning Senator Kukovich's amendment vote by 32 to 15, and finally winning the vote on the bill itself by 32 to 15 we celebrated with our strongest supporters (including Senator Allyson Schwartz, D. Philadelphia) in the corridor outside of the Senate chamber. It was an extended moment of sweet victory after several days of roller coaster activity which saw the bill rise and fall in its chances for passage literally dozens of times. Only hours before the bill finally came to a vote it appeared to be dead in the Republican Caucus. Then, with the heroic support of Senator Conti who led the fight to get the bill to a vote on the floor of the Senate on the Republican side and the equally powerful determination of Senator Kukovich on the Democratic side to amend every Title 18 Crimes Code bill on the Senate calendar until the bill was released, the bluff of the Republican majority was called and HB 1493 was allowed to move to the floor for a vote.
Perhaps the most remarkable of all our efforts to achieve passage of this Hate Crimes legislation was our consistent and vocal support for inclusive language (i.e. gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender as well as disabilities) in the bill to protect the entire sexual minority and disabilities community. SPARC refused to sacrifice any portion of our population to achieve a partial victory in this struggle.
And we proved to everyone, including our elected officials and our own community members, that to win our rights we did not have to bargain away members of the LGBT constituency who have all too often been seen as expendable. Pennsylvania has taught the country an important lesson that even in one of the most politically and religiously conservative and rural states in America it is possible for everyone to achieve equal rights. We still have a lot of work to do in the House of Representatives over the next many months to achieve a similar victory, but we are re-energized and revitalized by this victory and know that, indeed, nothing is beyond our reach. Congratulations to everyone who helped make this possible!
