Saturday, October 8, 2011

Get a fire going


Yes, I am a child of the 70′s. I spent many a summer night around a campfire with my guitar and my peers singing camp songs. One of the songs I remember is “Pass it on.”
“It only takes a spark to get a fire going, and soon all those around can warm up in its glowing.”
I thought of that song this recently when I saw that there is one Senator in the large state of Pennsylvania who is bold enough to introduce legislation to bring full marriage equality to Pennsylvania. Senator Daylin Leach is one little spark of hope in the otherwise (mostly) equality unfriendly state of Pennsylvania. In fact, there already others who are attempting to introduce an amendment to the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage (it is currently already banned legislatively). You can listen to senator Daylin Leach in a recent debate over marriage equality for Pennsylvania.
Here is hoping that this small spark can indeed become what is needed to fuel the fires of equality in the Keystone state.

An UPDATE: on protection of PA citizens: 
“As Pennsylvania’s top enforcer of the law, Pennsylvania Attorney General, Tom Corbett should be aggressively advocating for laws that protect ALL of Pennsylvania’s citizens,” Hoeffel charged Monday, calling on Corbett to support two statehouse bills that would create equal protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender citizens of Pennsylvania.
HB 300, introduced by Rep. Dan Frankel (D- Allegheny County), would amend the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity or expression” as protected classes. If passed, this bill will prohibit discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression in housing, employment, and public accommodations.
HB 745, introduced by Rep. Josh Shapiro (D- Montgomery County), expands the definition of a hate crime to include crimes motivated by malicious intent toward an individual’s or group’s ancestry, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or gender or gender identity.
A recent poll showed that half of Pennsylvanians are in favor of marriage equality, so it's time to get a fire going for relationship recognition in Pennsylvania.

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