HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Senate has voted to advance a discriminatory anti-transgender amendment to the re-authorization of the state Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Introduced by State Senator Don White, the amendment would cut transition-related surgical services for transgender youth out of the program. HB1338 passed the Senate by a 37-13 vote and…
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. — The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania filed a legal motion today to defend the Boyertown Area School District’s practice of allowing students to use restrooms and locker rooms consistent with their gender identity. The motion to intervene in the case was submitted in a federal lawsuit that is seeking to…
HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf today signed two executive orders that expand protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender expression or identity for state employees and, for the first time, employees of contractors doing business with the commonwealth. Governor Wolf’s executive orders come as the Pennsylvania Fairness Act, which would apply these…
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has announced that he will sign executive orders stating “no agency under the governor’s jurisdiction shall discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender expression, and identity, among other areas.” According to the governor’s office, one of the executive orders will pertain to commonwealth employees and the other to the commonwealth grants…
After racking up more than 50 accusations from women of sexual assault or unwanted advances, Bill Cosby will finally face criminal charges in Pennsylvania. Montgomery County District Attorney-elect Kevin Steele announced today that Cosby will face charges of aggravated indecent assault which is a felony of the first degree. The Huffington Post reported that the…
Once described by political pundit and famed Clintonista James Carville as “Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between,” Pennsylvania has made U.S. history by nominating and confirming – by a 49-0 vote – Dr. Rachel Levine to become the nation’s first openly transgender state physician general. Christian Alexandersen, writing on PennLive.com, announced yesterday…
Escape velocity is the speed needed to break away from a planet without eventually being pulled back by gravity. Hit it, and you can coast to the freedom of open space without hitting the jets again. For Earth, it’s about 25,000 mph. The escape velocity of a political movement can’t be calculated, but there is…
Paul Smith, the third leg of a victorious legal stool that includes Theodore Olson and David Boise (Prop. 8), has argued that same-sex marriage will be a reality in the United States by 2015 at the earliest and 2016 at the latest. Smith, who successfully argued Windsor v. United States in 2013 – which struck…
WASHINGTON – The day after a federal court struck down Pennsylvania’s ban on marriage equality, Gov. Tom Corbett announced the state would not appeal the ruling, officially making Pennsylvania the nineteenth state, plus the District of Columbia, where gay and lesbian couples can legally marry. As of today, 44 percent of Americans live in a…
Today U.S. District Judge John E. Jones, III ruled that Pennsylvania’s law banning marriage equality is unconstitutional. Pennsylvania becomes the tenth state where a federal judge has struck down a marriage ban since the U.S. Supreme Court issued their two marriage-related rulings last year. Just yesterday a federal judge in Oregon struck down that state’s…
