The Office of Diversity held another Diversity Dialogue event in which Dr. Amy Milligan addressed the question, “Are members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning community protected in Pennsylvania?” on Tuesday, April 2.
After the hour-long lunch discussion of the issue, students and faculty came to the conclusion that there are not many laws in Pennsylvania that protect the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer community.
Many of the people participating in the discussion were surprised to find that there were not many policies protecting the LGBT community, since other states in the Northeast region have many laws by comparison.
Even though there have been many restrictions for the LGBT community in the United States, there have also been many gay rights laws passed in hopes of promoting equality.These laws touch on a range of issues including marriage, adoption, housing, hospital visitation, school bullying and employment. Marriage within the LGBT community is banned in Pennsylvania.
Legislation on hospital visitation rights, employment, housing, schools and hate crimes is either unclear or does not provide extended rights. The only right the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning and queer population have in Pennsylvania is the right to adopt, but only by a single person. The group spent the time discussing the different laws that other states have recently adopted, and compared them to Pennsylvania’s laws, including how far behind they are, especially in the Northeast. The Northeast includes 12 states, ranging from Vermont to Connecticut. Only four of those states do not allow same-sex marriage. Pennsylvania is still the furthest behind in terms of policy.
The region that is furthest behind in keeping up with protection laws is the Southeast, which does not allow same-sex marriage in any state. The event gave a lot of new insight to the protection of the LGBT community. Milligan said, “I am dismayed when I consider the lack of legal protection for the LGBT community in Pennsylvania. The more informed we are, the more we can help inform others.”
Recently, there have been occurrences of bias-related incidents on the Elizabethtown College campus. Some of those have been directed toward the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning community. Federal hate crime laws protect the LGBT community against crimes related to one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Nearly every school addresses discrimination or bullying, but not all states have a law against bullying someone who is gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or questioning. Pennsylvania is a state that falls short of the line with its laws and regulations, and does not address hate crimes in school or public places.
First-year Mary Clyne said, “I think Pennsylvania needs a specific law in order to appropriately set a standard for action against these hate crimes. These incidents violate the integrity of the individual. If there were more laws in Pennsylvania against these particular methods of bullying, perhaps the strict enforcement will influence us here at Elizabethtown.”
The Office of Diversity has been arranging the Diversity Dialogue events in order to keep the Etown community up-to-date with current events and issues going on in the United States. Milligan agreed to help with Tuesday’s event, and came up with the topic with Diane Elliot, the director of diversity. Milligan said, “I think the idea of the Diversity Dialogues is to get people talking about issues that are really important. Sometimes it is uncomfortable to talk about these topics, but this creates a safe environment where we can really talk about important themes.” The Diversity Dialogue chosen for this week was a hit among students and faculty and used the power of discussion to get the word out about the protection of the LGBT community.