A resolution designating June as LGBT Pride Month moved forward in the House of Representatives Wednesday. State Reps. Dan Frankel and Brian Sims introduced the resolution, which has 35 sponsors and moved forward in a 182-11 vote.
“In a state like Pennsylvania that does not offer a single statewide LGBT civil right, we’re confronted daily with higher rates of suicide, violence and we’re confronted with the fact that LGBT Pennsylvanians can be fired from their jobs, kicked out of their homes and kicked off of their public property,” Sims told PGN. “A statement like this, I think, affirms for LGBT people that there are those of us in Pennsylvania government that do support them and that we’re fighting for them.”
The resolution notes several aspects of LGBT history in Pennsylvania, including the first LGBT sit-in at Dewey’s Lunch Counter and how the Commonwealth is the home to PGN.
Frankel told PGN that 41 years ago, on the same date his resolution moved forward, the House passed a resolution attacking Milton Shapp, the governor of Pennsylvania at the time, for proclaiming June 12-18 as “Gay Pride Week.”
“It’s kind of a historic day in that sense — a reversal,” Frankel said.
Sims noted the Republican-controlled state legislature as an obstacle in moving LGBT-rights measures forward, noting how it is “seemingly controlled by the most conservative factions within that Republican Party.”
“They don’t want to recognize our pride,” Sims added. “They don’t want to recognize our celebrations. They don’t want to recognize our motivations. They don’t want to recognize our lives. So this is important.”
Last week, the state Senate failed to move forward a companion resolution with a unanimous-consent procedure, typically used to quickly advance non-controversial items like cultural-recognition resolutions. The bill was later introduced for full consideration by committee.
Frankel and Sims both told PGN that, while this resolution is a small step in comparison to the need for recognition of statewide LGBT rights, they still consider it a step forward.
“A resolution is by no means revolutionary in and of itself, particularly when you are waiting to get legislation that would provide equal rights to the LGBT community,” Frankel said. “But this was still significant [since this is] the first time such a resolution was introduced, brought to the floor for a vote and then passed.
“[The resolution] means that the LGBT community is part of the mainstream community of our state,” Frankel added. “It’s a normal constituency and it shouldn’t be demonized.”