A Pennsylvania state representative said there is “a clear need” for his LGBT-inclusive hate-crimes bill in light of the Aug. 12 white nationalist riots in Charlottesville, Va. The demonstration resulted in three deaths and dozens injured.
State Rep. Kevin Boyle (D-172nd Dist.) is the lead sponsor of HB 505, which seeks to amend the state’s pre-existing hate-crimes law to include sexual orientation and gender identity. It currently has 43 co-sponsors, including two Republicans: Rep. John Taylor of Philadelphia and Rep. Thomas Murt of Montgomery County. Boyle’s legislation is currently waiting to be voted out of the Judiciary Committee but has not made any moves forward since he submitted it in February.
Boyle noted how demonstrators at the Virginia incident chanted anti-LGBT messages as they protested the removal of a statue memorializing Civil War Confederate Robert E. Lee. Videos surfaced on social media of protesters chanting, “Fuck you, faggots.”
“I think it speaks to why my legislation is needed in the House and there’s an identical bill in the state Senate from Sen. [Larry] Farnese,” Boyle said. “Both bills really need to be looked at and passed.”
Sally Keaveney, a spokesperson for Farnese’s office, said the staff is making calls to move Farnese’s version of the bill, SB 96, forward.
“We’ve seen the need for this type of legislation,” Keaveney said. “The reason we enacted hate-crime statutes 40 years ago was because of groups like the [Ku Klux] Klan and other race-based terrorist organizations for the exact same reasons. We feel we need the same protections for the LGBTQ community. I think understanding that we’re seeing a similar dynamic in today’s day and age, it’s important to fight for marginalized communities.”
Farnese’s bill was also referred to the Judiciary Committee in February, where it remains.
The state legislature added sexual orientation and gender identity to the hate-crimes law in 2002 but the judiciary overturned the measure on a procedural technicality.
“We were progressive enough over a decade ago to include a hate-crimes bill that included LGBT people but unfortunately it seems that the current Republican majority in the state legislature is not decent enough to actually include ‘LGBTQ’ in hate-crimes [laws] in our state in 2017,” Boyle said.
According to a report from CBS Philly, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has seen an uptick in reported hate crimes in the past few months. The agency now receives four to five reports a week, an increase from the two or three incidents per month prior to the November presidential election.
“I think we’re living in an era of increased confidence on the part of hate groups,” Boyle said. “We’ve seen those statistics where we see an increase of attacks on minority groups — whether it’s racial or sexual minorities — and I think it drives home why we need my bill to become law. We as a society need to stop this because it can get worse. Unless we’re brave enough to stand together and protect more vulnerable populations from discrimination and abuse, our society is going to be further torn apart.”
Boyle noted that in order for his bill to move forward, the LGBT community throughout the state needs to contact their state representatives and senators, especially if they live in a Republican district.
“Get them on board with actually getting this through committee,” he said. “I think that if this bill were to be voted on up and down, it would pass and I think it would probably pass with close to half of the Republican members voting for it.”