FILE PHOTO: People walk across a rainbow crosswalk painted in support of the LGBT community at the intersection of 13th and Locust streets in Philadelphia, Friday, June 17, 2016.
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
Pa. law lacks protections for LGBTQ individuals and some demand change
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Jan Murphy/PennLive
Matt Rourke / AP Photo
FILE PHOTO: People walk across a rainbow crosswalk painted in support of the LGBT community at the intersection of 13th and Locust streets in Philadelphia, Friday, June 17, 2016.
(Harrisburg) — Michael Bugbee is still rattled remembering the words that a landlord told him last year while trying to set up an appointment to visit an apartment near Shippensburg University campus where he and his husband could live.
“You’re going to have to find another place to live. I didn’t know you were homosexual,” the 27-year-old student studying human communications and sociology was told.
Bugbee was among those who spoke at a Pennsylvania Youth Congress news conference in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday to call on the General Assembly to pass legislation providing discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals.
“I’m used to the homophobic remarks and gay slurs but I was scared, honestly. I never thought that could happen,” he said. “I contacted the Shippensburg Borough because I expected them to do something. I thought it was illegal. I really did.”
He learned it wasn’t.
Jan Murphy / PennLive
Michael Bugbee, a Shippensburg University student, was denied the opportunity to rent an apartment near campus because of his sexual orientation. He spoke at a Monday news conference calling on state lawmakers to pass legislation that would make it illegal to deny housing, employment, or public accommodations to someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The youth congress, a statewide youth-led LGBT organization based in Harrisburg, is hoping to change that. It held the news conference to renew its call to state lawmakers to amend the state’s Human Relations Act to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in housing, employment, and public accommodations.
The group’s executive director Jason Landau Goodman said the first bill addressing this issue was introduced into the General Assembly in 1976 and decades later, it still hasn’t reached a governor’s desk.
“It can take a while to get legislation passed in this building but this is unimaginable,” Goodman said. “There are so many lawmakers we are truly grateful to who have made this legislation a priority but we are still here.”
Gov. Tom Wolf would sign the legislation without hesitation if it reached his desk, said his spokesman J.J. Abbott.
However, the legislation has run into opposition from some corners including the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a statewide conservative-leaning pro-family group based in Harrisburg.
The family institute argues that it would make it illegal for churches, schools and other organizations to limit their hiring practices to employing people who share their views on human sexuality and marriage. Further, they argue it would impact privacy rights by opening up restrooms, showers and locker rooms to the opposite biological sex in schools, workplaces and in public accommodations.
House GOP leaders, who hold majority control, are not anxious to take up the issue until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on three pending employment discrimination cases dealing with this issue that it heard last fall, according to the caucus spokesman Mike Straub.
Beyond that, he said, “We believe discrimination in any form is wrong, and no person should ever be subjected to it. However, when we start drawing lines around what makes us different, and putting those lines into law, we are working to further separate ourselves, and not pursuing policies that make our commonwealth more inclusive for everyone.”
Despite those hesitations and objections, Goodman sees reason for hope.
Among those in the youth congress’ corner is having one of its champions – Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington County – now chairing the Senate Labor & Industry Committee. Bartolotta spoke at the news conference in support of making this change in law particularly as it relates to employment.
Jan Murphy / PennLive
Senate Labor & Industry Committee Chairwoman Camera Bartolotta, R-Washington County, said at a Pennsylvania Youth Congress news conference it’s time the state provide nondiscrimination protections to LGBTQ people particularly when it comes to employment.
“I take very seriously the need to have the best workforce possible to grow our economy and create opportunity,” she said. “As such, I believe every individual should be free to seek unfettered economic enrichment. Leaving talented individuals on the sideline because of one’s sexual orientation or gender identity will surely fail Pennsylvania.”
It has the potential to dissuade individuals and businesses from coming to Pennsylvania, she said.
“It’s time we change some of those antiquated, ancient rules and thought processes and brought Pennsylvania into 2020,” Bartolotta said. Getting more emphatic, she said, “It is about damn time,” drawing applause from the crowd of supporters.
Rep. Wendi Thomas, R-Bucks County, pointed out to those gathered that in 1975, Pennsylvania was the first state in which an executive order was issued providing discrimination protection based on sexual orientation in state employment. In 2003, that protection was extended to include gender identity. But today, it is the only state in the Northeast that fails to provide these same protections to all of its residents.
“We were leading the way,” she said. “Now we’re behind.”
Speaking of his own situation, Bugbee said he can attest to how hurtful not having the nondiscrimination protection can be.
After being denied the opportunity to even look at an apartment by one landlord, he and his husband were able to secure housing from another landlord by lying and saying they were roommates.
But he said that landlord found out a few days after they signed the lease that they were gay and told them they had to move out. But later that same day, the landlord called back to say instead, he would honor the lease but would “pray for me and hope in time I would change my sinful ways.”
“That day shook me to my core. I was in disbelief. I couldn’t believe this was happening. I couldn’t believe in 2019 LGBTQ people could be denied a place to live just because of who we are,” Bugbee said. “Our lawmakers here In Pennsylvania and justices on the Supreme Court need to take action to make sure what happened to me doesn’t happen to anyone again.”
Currently, only 21 states and the District of Columbia have their own laws that prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, according to the AP. Wisconsin outlaws targeting workers because of sexual orientation, but doesn’t protect transgender employees, according to the AP.
PennLive and The Patriot-News are partners with PA Post.
A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.
