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Saturday, 30 October 2010 05:00

Yet the state's chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Tom Corbett, either doesn't know or doesn't care about this problem with the law. In April, Mr. Corbett said on a questionnaire that he opposes adding these protections to the state's existing nondiscrimination law. Then at a debate Oct. 18, Mr. Corbett said, "I don't know that an amendment is what will actually make enforcement any better. It's just we already have the laws on the books."

As the lead sponsor of the bipartisan House bill (H.B. 300) to fix this, I can tell you Mr. Corbett is wrong -- we don't have the law we need.

In contrast, at the same debate, Dan Onorato said of H.B. 300, "As governor, I would sign it into law. ... No one should lose their apartment or their job or their home because of their sexual identity or their orientation."

As chief executive of Allegheny County, Mr. Onorato signed a similar nondiscrimination law that protects the county's 1.2 million residents. As governor, Dan Onorato will be committed to fairness for all Pennsylvanians, which is also vital for fighting brain drain and for our economic competitiveness.

STATE REP. DAN FRANKEL
Squirrel Hill
The writer represents the 23rd Legislative District.

Comments (7)

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written by PghGirl412, October 30, 2010 - 09:57 AM

Equal housing laws mean NO DISCRIMINATION. They're not strengthened by inserting specifics on who can't be discriminated against because the law already states that no one can be discriminated based on sex.

However, playing to public fears & manufacturing controversies surely will help Rep. Frankel get re-elected -- even if his presence in Harrisburg simply means that no real work gets done in this state since he's too busy grandstanding on non-issues.

Nice try Frankel, I can only hope voters are educated enough to NOT fall for it.

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written by John Lewandowski, October 30, 2010 - 04:55 PM

Talk about trying to put a wedge between voters. What purpose does this letter serve, other than trying to rile up some manufactured outrage against Corbett?

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written by Pat, October 30, 2010 - 06:16 PM

Pghgirl, the state law says no one can be discriminated based on sex-meaning it cannot matter whether an applicant is a man or woman. However, it is still perfectly legal to discriminate based on sexual orientation- whether an applicant is gay or straight.

And how the heck is this a non-issue anyway?

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written by Deke, October 30, 2010 - 10:29 PM

Pghgurl and John L spout the tea baggerz ;ine. Rep Frabkel is right. Those twp are over ruled.

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written by Pat, October 30, 2010 - 11:00 PM

Come to think of it, it's extremely disturbing that Pghgirl and John Lewandowski are both perfectly fine with about 10% of Pennsylvanians not having basic civil rights, as long as their taxes aren't going up.

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written by PghGirl412, October 31, 2010 - 09:39 AM

Courts across the country use the existing housing law to rule in favor of GLBT people who claim discrimination all the time (our state law is based on federal law, as most are): discriminating against gays is discrimination based on a perceived disability, discrimination against transgendered individuals is discrimination based on sex or gender & discriminating against gay couples or families is covered under the "familial status" clause of the law.

So our existing laws DO cover these concerns, yet we have another unaccomplished politician grandstanding on the desperate need to change laws or add new ones, complete with uninformed schmucks begging him to do just that.

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written by PghGirl412, October 31, 2010 - 09:41 AM

Anyone who truly believes this is a problem should be doing something to help (like a public awareness campaign of what’s covered by the existing law or how GLBT people are no different from the rest of us) as opposed to pushing the FALSE idea, like Frankel does, that PA doesn’t ensure equality.

If he is that ignorant about our laws, he should immediately resign.

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