The long-awaited legislation to ban LGBT discrimination in Pennsylvania made its way back into the state legislature last week — a bill that has support from all corners of the state and across both sides of the aisle.
A record number of original cosponsors signed on to the newly named Pennsylvania Fairness Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s Human Relations Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. Within a day of its introduction, the House bill had 86 cosponsors, including 13 Republicans.
There are 203 lawmakers all together in the Republican-controlled House.
Of the 86 cosponsors, the majority comes from Philadelphia and its surrounding four counties, with 24 Philly lawmakers and 24 suburban signing on. The only member of the Philadelphia delegation who is not yet cosponsoring is Republican Rep. Martina White (170th Dist.) of Northeast Philadelphia, who was elected in a special election in March.
Nearly all of the Republican support for the bill came from lawmakers in the Philadelphia suburbs; 12 represent one of the four counties, with the last being Rep. John Taylor of Philadelphia.
“I think Republicans are coming around on the issue in a lot of ways, which I think made them signing on as cosponsors easier for quite a few of them,” said Equality PA executive director Ted Martin, who is also board president of PA Competes, a new coalition that is building business support for the bills. “And in the Philadelphia suburbs, these are primarily areas that have their own nondiscrimination ordinances, so people who live there can go to their legislators and explain how the law has improved the community, but also how weird it is that it ends at the border of the community.”
Of the Senate bill’s 25 cosponsors, seven represent districts in Philadelphia, including Sens. Art Haywood (D-Fourth Dist.) and John Sabatina (D-Fifth Dist.), who are new to the legislature. Four come from the Philadelphia suburbs, including Republican Sens. Charles McIlhinney (10th Dist.) and Dominic Pileggi (Ninth Dist.), who are first-time cosponsors.
The other areas of the state are also well-represented. On the House bill, 18 Democrats from Western Pennsylvania are cosponsors, as well as 12 from Central Pennsylvania and seven from Northeastern. The only lawmaker in the House who cosponsored last session but not this session is Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney.
Of the approximately two-dozen lawmakers new to the legislature this session, the bill picked up nine cosponsors: Democratic Reps. Jason Dawkins, Leslie Acosta, Michael Driscoll, Peter Schweyer, Leanne Krueger-Braneky, Donna Bullock and Joanna McClinton and Republican Reps. Aaron Kaufer and James Santora. It also garnered support from Rep. Robert Godshall, a returning Republican lawmaker who had not sponsored last session.
There is also new Republican support for the Senate bill, such as from Central Pennsylvania lawmakers, where three of the five cosponsoring legislators — including first-time cosponsor Patricia Vance (31st Dist.) and freshman lawmaker Scott Wagner (28th Dist.) — are Republicans. They are joined by four Northeast Pennsylvania lawmakers, including freshman Republican Sen. Mario Scavello (40th Dist.), as well as five Democrats from Western Pennsylvania.
Also new to this session’s effort is record business support. Just this week, Penn State University became a PA Competes member, joining more than 400 other companies backing the initiative.
“The corporate support we’ve seen is really unprecedented,” Martin said. “Dow, Alcoa, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, PNC; it’s an enormous support and I think that’s sending a message.”