[GLCC NewsBlast: 166] To the LGBTQ Community:

Dear LGBTQ community of Allegheny County and our allies:

As many of you know, the Allegheny County Council will be voting on
the Allegheny County Human Relations Ordinance this Wednesday, July 1.
Council and the County Executive are expected to give it their final
approval.

This process began at Pride 2008 with conversations between
Councilperson Amanda Green and several community leaders. Throughout
the year, community leaders have worked with Councilperson Green to
shape the bill and many community members have voiced support for it.

The ordinance will establish a Human Relations Commission and prohibit
most discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation
based on many characteristics including sexual orientation, gender
identity and expression. Similar protections have been in place in the
City of Pittsburgh for over 20 years. Now most of those protections
will be extended to the County borders.

The bill is not perfect. We have major concerns about an amendment
(Section 215.31. "Definitions." Sub-section H. Sub-paragraph 1) made
to the bill in the Council's Government Reform Committee (over the
objections of Councilperson Green) on June 18. -This amendment allows
religious organizations to discriminate, even if they receive County
government funding. This is not allowed in the Pittsburgh ordinance
and will make the protections of the Allegheny County Human Relations
Ordinance weaker than the Pittsburgh ordinance.

-It allows for discrimination by religious organizations not only on
the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, but also on the
basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, etc.

-The amendment sets up an inane and unconstitutional requirement that
religious organizations document their homophobia and transphobia in
order to be exempt from the ordinance. So, religious organizations
that are BGLT friendly would have to comply with the ordinance while
the homophobic organizations can discriminate against anybody for any
reason.

-This amendment is potentially a harmful model for statewide non-
discrimination legislation.

Some of us who are familiar with the legislation feel the amendment
makes the entire bill not worth having for the reasons listed above.
On the other hand, some of us feel that the protections the bill
offers are substantial and that the bill is at least a step in the
right direction. And there is also the strong possibility of striking
some of the problematic portions of the legislation in court.
Representatives from our working group are meeting with County
Executive Onorato's staff to try to get rid of as much of this bad
language as possible prior to approval of the ordinance. Here is how
you can help:

Contact:
County Executive Dan Onorato
Phone: (412) 350-6500 Fax: (412) 350-6512
executive@alleghenycounty.us

Your Council person.
http://www.alleghenycounty.us/council/members.aspx
Ask them to remove the language from the proposed Human Relations
Ordinance that allows organizations that receive County funding to
discriminate.

Attend the meeting on Wednesday, July 1, 2009 @ 5PM (but come early
the room will be packed)

436 Grant Street
4th floor - Gold Room (room may be changed to accommodate large
numbers)
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
If you wish, you may speak at the meeting on Wednesday. (You must call
ahead and put your name on a list to speak - 412.350.6490)

Thank you for your interest and support!
Coalition for the Allegheny County Human Relations Ordinance.

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