calendar June 27, 2023 in Advocacy, News
Stand Up for Fairness for LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians
PA Bishops Support Proposed Fairness Act
Pennsylvania’s seven ELCA Bishops have issued an open letter in support of proposed legislation that would expand the list of groups legally protected from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations. The Fairness Act would amend the 1955 Human Relations Act — which already prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, sex, color, age, ancestry, disability or national origin — to add protections for sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.
Tell your lawmakers it’s time to make our Commonwealth a safe place for everyone to live, love and work as their authentic selves without fear of discrimination.
The bishops explain that such public advocacy “replaces the timid silence of resignation to what is, with a bold voice giving expression to what could be.” Members of ELCA congregations have stories of being vulnerable to harm in public settings, and have experienced bullying, indignity, and the spiritual pain of rejection and scorn, the bishops write.
In Pennsylvania, more than half a million LGBTQ+ residents are vulnerable to discrimination every day because of a lack of express and enduring statutory protections at the state level. Pennsylvania remains the only state in the Northeast without an inclusive statewide nondiscrimination law. Passage of protections in Pennsylvania is a critical step to ensure LGBTQ+ people are treated with dignity in employment, housing, and public spaces.
Noting that not all ELCA members agree about how the Church should regard sexual minorities, the bishops write that “differences of conviction do not keep us from yearning together for the peaceable kingdom to be our reality.”
As an increasing tide of legislation and violence targets LGBTQ+ folks, the bishops observe that “there seems to be no lack of occasion for people of faith to speak a bold word of comfort and protective welcome to those who suffer harm.”
Learn more in Lutheran Advocacy Ministries in Pennsylvania’s Action Alert below.
This month, the nation’s largest organization devoted to the rights of LGBTQ+ Americans declared a “state of emergency” in the U.S. amidst a growing number of dangerous and discriminatory policies. In Pennsylvania, more than half a million LGBTQ+ residents are vulnerable to discrimination every day because of a lack of express and enduring statutory protections at the state level. Tell your lawmakers it’s time to make our Commonwealth a safe place for everyone to live, love and work as their authentic selves without fear of discrimination.
Pennsylvania remains the only state in the Northeast without an inclusive statewide nondiscrimination law. Passage of protections in Pennsylvania is a critical step to ensure LGBTQ people are treated with dignity in employment, housing, and public spaces.
The seven Pennsylvania bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released a letter in support of legislation that would prohibit such discrimination.
“At this moment there is an opportunity for us to add our voices in support of legislation that could provide continuing legal protection for one particularly vulnerable group of our people,” the bishops state in their letter “Fairness for All Pennsylvanians.”
The letter points to the imagery of the “peaceable kingdom,” described in Isaiah 11:6, in which “the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”
The words anticipate a renewal of all creation in which the identity of each creature remains but none experiences any harm from the others.
“It is the fulfillment of this vision for which people of faith yearn, and toward which they call their neighbors,” the bishops say in the letter. “The work of public advocacy, at its best, replaces the timid silence of resignation to what is, with a bold voice giving expression to what could be.”
Thank you for your Advocacy!
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