Allegheny County is the second largest county in the state and home to the City of Pittsburgh, which has boasted an inclusive human rights commission ordinance for over 15 years. Inclusive of both sexual orientation and gender identity.
This past weekend, over a hundred advocates and nearly 10 politicians from the City, Council and State braved frigid weather to rally for LGBTQ rights. Particular emphasis is on a proposed Countywide ordinance to establish a Human Rights Commission which would extend civil protections to residents based on sexual orientation, gender identify and gender expression.
The bill has attracted the attention of the American Family Association of Pennsylvania which has pried four of the ordinance's original co-sponsors away. While general wisdom is that their votes would still be there, the backlash over this intrusion generated an overwhelming response for Pittsburgh's LGBTQ community and allies attending tonight's public hearing on the ordinance.
County Council President Rich Fitzgerald, a long time supporter of LGBTQ rights, announced that this was an unprecedented turnout for a public hearing. The chambers were so packed that speakers were escorted out to make way for new people and at times 100 folks waited for admission to the hearing. All told, approximatly 63 individuals gave testimony with 46 of them in favor of the ordinance.
There are no plans for a vote on this matter as advocates get busy educating the reluctant four to reconsider the true impact of this ordinance. The ordinance itself heads back to committee for further consideration.
Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents has extensive coverage of this ordinance, including excerpts from the testimony at the hearing courtesy of fellow blogger After8, Pgh? who packed himself into a corner and sent frequent updates via his smart phone (wireless signals are hard to generate in these old buildings) which were then loaded onto the pghlesbian.com site. Sue and Adam had previously worked together on the aforementioned rally and hope to collaborate on future projects.
The future of the ordinance is uncertain. Rumors are spreading that amendments stripping the gender expression language are being considered as are others masquerading as religious freedoms. The majority of Council members left far before the end of testimony leaving advocates the tough job of bringing the conversation to them.
A highlight of the evening is when nationally recognized Presbyterian minister, Reverend Janet Edwards, accused her fellow people of faith of "bearing false witness" when describing the LGBTQ community in the now-familiar rhetoric of sin, debasement, perversion and disease. It was a powerful call to action for people of faith across denominations to join this social justice movement. Edwards was recently acquitted by the Presbyterian Church for performing a marriage ceremony for two lesbians.
For more on the hearing and some of the great testimony, visit Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents. And, please, if you have friends and family members in Allegheny County or the surrounding areas, encourage them to get involved. This County level ordinance girds our loins for a statewide battle to add these protected classes to the Commonwealth's existing Human Rights act.
Early this month, the anti-gay hate group Westboro Baptist Church announced that they would be protesting at the inauguration. According to NBC, the hate group was granted a permit by the U.S. Park Service.
The Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., will have 15 people at the northeast corner of John Marshal Park protesting military funerals and gays until the parade clears, the park service said.
Here's the group's hateful press release:
Related articles:
- God Hates Signs protest waged against Westboro Baptist Church
- Conversations with God Hates Fags/Westboro Baptist Church
- 'Oh, Here We Come A-Gay Bashin'
I personally believe some of the quiet mistakes of LGBT civil rights movement make are in not knowing our enemy -- knowing what our enemy states they believe when they're out of our collective earshot -- and not thinking clearly about how to counter what they say/what they do.
Well, below is some text and a link to some readily available reading from the Concerned Women for America...They talk about the perceived evils of the upcoming Obama Administration.
So, from the Concerned Women For America's Spellbound by Obama: What it Means for America, discussing The Good and the Bad about Obama (bolded emphasis added to text below):
The Bad
The bad news about an Obama Administration far outweighs the good news. We can count on it: Obama may wait awhile, but he will do the things that will assure his second term, and he is definitely a Marxist "true believer" who will not deviate from his socialist goals, even when the current financial or political climate means their implementation has to be delayed. He chose Rahm Emanuel, a member in good standing of the down-and-dirty Chicago political scene, for the White House Chief of Staff position-which means the president can count on strong-arm tactics for any opponents who have to be "persuaded" to come into alignment with the president's goals.
Even before his inauguration, Mr. Obama has revealed plans for an enormous domestic spending package--the largest public construction program since the 1950s, including roads, bridges, schools and technological development. It is also essential for his reelection that he establish national health care, a Democratic priority, by 2012; he will do so by implementing its various aspects incrementally--an "under the radar" scheme that will achieve his goal without raising public objections. He will likely try the same strategy with abortion, the feminists' top priority. He has promised to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), a measure that would turn back all prolife gains and remove all regulations and restrictions on abortion. He probably won't use all his political chits to fulfill that promise immediately, as he said he would, but ultimately he will give the feminists that victory and he will give the homosexual activists their two priorities, federalizing same-sex "marriage" and revoking the current "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bans open homosexuality in the U.S. military services. Though he campaigned as a candidate opposed to same-sex "marriage," he fully intends to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)--legislation that has been enacted in 44 states to protect husband-wife, traditional marriage at the state level.
Obama will support the so-called Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) and indicates his support for expanding the bill to cover "gender identity." Further, he favors adoption rights for same-sex couples as well as condom distribution throughout the world as an AIDS prevention measure. He has also said that he will strengthen and expand dangerous federal "hate crimes" legislation...
The CWA goes on to state that "the greatest threat" of the upcoming Obama Administration (their words: "of the Obama agenda") will be his left-leaning judicial appointments.
(Frankly, I'm more worried that all Obama will lean too far to the center with his appointments. I want civil rights protected; I want to see judges who consider how the fundamental rights of minority individuals and groups need to be protected from governmental or corporate abuse.)
And hey, the CWA -- their founder and chairman in particular -- has a lot to say about a woman's right to choose too. Mainly, they don't want women to have a right to choose, and they're motivated to push back against that fundamental right.
Know your enemy. We don't always know enough about what they believe considering how well they have been mobilized in the past. When you think about it, it usually takes identifying clear enemies to get people motivated enough to create a movement -- think about what the removal of fundamental civil rights of LGBT Californians has done recently for the LGBT civil rights movement. We have identifiable enemies that did wonders to mobilize the broader, LGBT community when they took away LGBT Californians' fundamental right to marry.
The CWA trying to manufacture an enemy in President-elect Obama to mobilize their concerned women troops. They haven't succeeded as yet, but you can bet the Concerned Women For America ar going to keep trying. We need to be ready if they and their peer "Christian" organizations again succeed in mobilizing their troops against the fundamental civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
Besides having our own, positive, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender messages about civil rights and equality, we need to be ready to counter their arguments...their movement to crush equality, liberty, and justice for all.
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