MU Allies host event to discuss Pa. House Bill 300

Many Pennsylvania employees are protected from discrimination under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

The act covers most reasons people may be discriminated against, except sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Last Thursday evening, MU Allies hosted Jake Kaskey, Policy and Outreach Coordinator at Equality Advocates of Pennsylvania to talk about House Bill 300.

House Bill 300 seeks to amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act so that both sexual orientation and gender expression will be covered under it.

“This legislation directly impacts the lives of thousands across the state. In this economy, people are already worried about losing jobs, this bill would help remove two more reasons someone could be fired,” said Kaskey, to a group of students at MU Allies’ Lobbying Training.

Pennsylvania is one of the few northeastern states that have yet to make this legislation into a law.

If the bill is passed Pennsylvania will join 20 other states that currently have similar laws against discrimination.

Fourteen municipalities in Pennsylvania have passed local protection, but these municipalities only protect 20 percent of Pennsylvanians.

Passing of the bill will allow employees people to be comfortable in the workplace and not have to worry about being fired because of their sexual orientation or gender expression.

Pennsylvania would become more competitive if the bill were passed; leading Fortune 100 companies have discrimination policies that are friendly to Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender (LGBT) people.

The bill has been around for eight years and in March by a vote of 12 to 11 it was passed out of Pennsylvania House State Government Committee, the farthest the bill has ever gotten.

“The window is shortly closing, we need to act, and it needs to be now or this will never happen,” said Kaskey.

A survey conducted by the Equality Advocates of Pennsylvania showed that 87 percent of likely voters believe discrimination against LGBT individuals exists in society today.

By a vote of 70 to 21 voters support House Bill 300 banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

There is opposition though, many people do not agree with legislation, and often use scare tactics to change minds.

Many think the bill is related to marriage, but it only has to do with fairness and protection from discrimination.

Many supporters’ voices get “hijacked” so anyone in support of the bill are urged to call, write, or email their local representative and tell them you are in support of House Bill 300.