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Amid an increasingly hostile national climate, struggle over LGBTQ rights likely in Pa. legislature

AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File

Amid an increasingly hostile national climate, struggle over LGBTQ rights likely in Pa. legislature

Amid the rise of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies coming out of Washington, lawmakers in Harrisburg are set to consider a fresh wave of bills — many that would expand and protect the rights of LGBTQ Pennsylvanians and others that seek to restrict their rights, especially those of transgender individuals.

“The biggest challenge for this next cycle, this next two-year cycle, is going to be how we hold the line on anti-LGBTQ bills, and in particular, anti-transgender legislation and other actions, whether they’re executive actions or school board actions or others,” said Corinne Goodwin, executive director of the Eastern PA Trans Equity Project.

During the last legislative session, Pennsylvania lawmakers introduced 71 bills and nine regulations that would have had positive impacts on the lives of LGBTQ people.

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At the same time, lawmakers also introduced 14 bills that would have restricted or eliminated their rig hts and protections.

President Donald Trump speaks Wednesday before signing an executive order barring transgender female athletes from competing in women's or girls' sporting events, in the East Room of the White House in Washington.
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Trump signs executive order intended to bar transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports

For the 11th consecutive legislative session, no substantive LGBTQ legislation was enacted into law by the General Assembly.

Goodwin says Democrats and Republicans are now feeling heightened pressure for different reasons.

“Republicans feel that the LGBTQ issue, and more particularly the transgender issue, is one that really works for them...in terms of being able to raise money, and it works for them in terms of activating their evangelical base of voters,” Goodwin said. “They’re going to continue to push the anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ button long and hard for this next couple years.”

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At the national level, Republicans successfully leveraged transgender issues to their advantage in the 2024 election.

GOP state lawmakers seem poised to ride that momentum. especially as it relates to transgender athletes and equity in sports.

“Since introducing the Protecting Women in Sports Legislation in 2021, there has been growing support for allowing women to have their own category in sport; protecting women from physical injury; and protecting opportunities that a lifetime of achievement in sports affords young women athletes,” said Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Cumberland County, whose legislation would restrict participation of transgender students in-school athletics.

“Title IX was a hard-fought right that should not change after 50 years of advancing women in sport, and we have seen these rights eroded by men in women’s sports over the last few years.”

LGBTQ advocates have identified 21 priority areas in their legislative agenda, the majority advancing LGBTQ equality, equity, and inclusion for the estimated 750,000 Pennsylvanians who identify as LGBTQ.

Advocates are recommending 45 individual bills, including measures that address inequities and disparities and violence and discrimination, concerns that have largely failed to yield changes in decades.

“Pennsylvania is neither a champion nor a hostile state for LGBTQ public policy,” said Jason Landau Goodman, chairman of the board of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, a transgender advocacy group.

“LGBTQ Pennsylvanians deserve a government that is providing full and equal protections for all, and so there’s so much that needs to get done. We’re not seeing the progression of hostile attacks in state government as we see in other states across the country, but we’re also not seeing major landmark bills get to the governor’s desk. So it’s a difficult place, but it could be far worse.”

Other key areas for advocates deal with hate crimes, conversion therapy bans for minors, protections for incarcerated transgender individuals, the prohibition of nonconsensual surgeries on intersex children, and measures addressing legal issues such as name change and death certificates.

The murder last year, for example, of a 14-year-old Mercer County transgender girl, invigorated calls for hate crime legislation to protect transgender people.

Pennsylvania may have less restrictive laws than other states, but the legislative process has moved at a slow pace.

The first nondiscrimination bill for sexual orientation was introduced in 1976; bills for both gender identity and sexual orientation have been introduced every session since 2003.

Only about a third – 38% – of the commonwealth’s LGBTQ population lives in jurisdictions that provide explicitly LGBTQ-inclusive local nondiscrimination protections. The majority of local governments do not provide such protections.

“Depending on whether you’re in a very welcoming community with civil rights protections that have been passed locally, you could be in a very wonderful situation,” Goodman said. “We have a very wide range of experiences for LGBTQ people in our state. We would really like to see a centralized standard equal protection under the law for everyone in our state. So we have a lot of work to do.”

Goodman said bills that address hate crimes, inclusive education, reproductive health care protections, HIV decriminalization, foster care protections, have been codified under statute but not updated to reflect the needs of the LGBTQ community.

“There’s not going to be an omnibus bill,” Goodman said. “We’ve got to break it down.”

Conservatives, on the hand, are buoyed by the tone at the national and local level. Several local school boards and local governments in Pennsylvania have taken aim at the LGBTQ community, in particular, transgender people.

The Central Bucks School District, for example, two years ago banned transgender athletes from playing with teams based on their gender identity, forcing them to play for teams based on the gender they were assigned at birth.

Indeed, few bills have received as much attention as the proposed measure that would restrict transgender athletes in school sports. The policy has become a wedge issue and has gained traction among conservatives.

The state Senate and the House passed such a bill two sessions ago - when both chambers had Republican majorities. The bill was vetoed by then-Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.

The “Save Women’s Sports Act” would create a legal cause for individuals to sue K-12 schools, colleges, and universities if they allow transgender girls and women to compete in female sports. The bill defines sex (or gender) as being “based on reproductive biology and genetic makeup.”

Conservative lawmakers argue that allowing transgender females to compete on a women’s scholastic athletic team puts all women at a disadvantage.

“No woman should have to undress in front of a man, be physically abused on a field of play or in a boxing ring by a man, or have an award taken away in the women’s category by a man,” Gleim said. “That sentiment seems to be clear. I have stated before that the discrimination is occurring by the men in the women’s sport, not the other way around.”

Gleim said that scholastic sports governing bodies such as the NCAA and the PIAA must ultimately address the issue.

“Time and again, we have witnessed that men will prevail when competing against a woman due to physical differences that can not be altered,” she said.

Any legislative showdown over LGBTQ legislation will come with Senate Republicans holding a 28-22 majority and the House at a 101-101 tie, with a special election set in March to replace a Democratic lawmaker who died early this year.

“Pennsylvania is at a stalemate when it comes to LGBTQ policy at a state level but what we see locally with the political landscape is that many places have become trailblazers, many local governments have become trailblazers for LGBTQ equity and inclusion,” Goodman said.

In the 10 days since his second inaugural, President Donald Trump has already signed several executive orders reversing rights and protections for transgender individuals; as well as slashing diversity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government.

This week Trump signed orders that restrict transgender individuals from affirmatively serving in the military and ban federal funding of transgender-affirming health care for anyone under age 19.

Amid a fraught landscape, LGBTQ advocates remain determined to reach for long-held goals and hold the tide of the erosion of their rights. The Pennsylvania Coalition of LGBTQ+ Organizations, a statewide network of over 50 LGBTQ organizations, on Wednesday released a statement of unity:

“These are not going to be easy times. The challenges we face are profound, and the pain and losses we experience are real. Yet, we have been here before. Many of us have personally experienced the cruelty of violence and discrimination. Through the darkest moments of our history, we have found fortitude in one another, fought for our communities, and shown that we are never alone.”

“Let us not be disheartened by setbacks or the scale of the work ahead. Nothing can dissuade us from pushing forward our nation’s stated commitment to equal protection for all. We are part of this commonwealth and this country, and have every right to continue shaping the world we want to live in. We will keep having conversations, sharing our stories, and building bridges. We are proud to be Pennsylvanians who hold close the promise that we can continue to make our world a better place.”

First Published: January 30, 2025, 9:40 p.m.
Updated: January 30, 2025, 10:42 p.m.

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The Pennsylvania Capitol is seen, Feb. 6, 2024, in Harrisburg, Pa.  (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
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