Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Both will be October 4.  First, at 12 noon, State Rep Dan Frankel is hosting a town hall meeting to discuss PA House Bill 1400.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Allegheny, will host a landmark public hearing Oct. 4 in Pittsburgh on his bill (H.B. 1400) that would protect people who live or work in Pennsylvania from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression in employment, housing or credit.

The House State Government Committee will hold the hearing at noon Thursday, Oct. 4 in Room CL 2017 of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh, Fifth Avenue at Bigelow Boulevard.

 “More and more people inside and outside of the Capitol building understand that being gay or transgendered has nothing to do with your ability to fix a car or computer, to show up on time and to do a good day’s work,” Frankel said. “It’s important to note that this legislation would also protect heterosexual people from being fired based on their sexual orientation or their gender identity or expression. This legislation would protect everyone.”

(There are at least a dozen gay women in Pittsburgh who don't know that at all, but I digress).

Later that same day,

Town Hall Meeting Oct. 4th (Thursday) at 7:00pm

To discuss The Federal Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA) and PA
House Bill 1400 (amends PA's Human Relations Act to prohibit
discrimination on the basic of sexual orientation and gender identity or
expression).

With Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for
Transgender Equality

Dining Room B on the first floor of the William Pitt Union (corner of
5th ave and Bigelow Blvd, across from the Cathedral of Learning)

Both ENDA and House Bill 1400 will aid in stopping discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.  Mara
will discuss what's happening at both levels and to gather support for
the activities being conducted in PA and at the federal level.

Mara is the founding Executive Director of NCTE. A Pennsylvania native,
Mara came to Washington after co-chairing the Pennsylvania Gender Rights
Coalition. Mara is a transgender-identified woman who also identifies as
a parent and a Pennsylvanian. She is a graduate of Penn State University
and did her graduate work at Harvard University in American Government.
She has served on the board of Directors of Common Roads, an LGBTQ Youth
Group, and on the steering committee of the Statewide Pennsylvania
Rights Coalition. Mara has almost twenty-five years of professional
experience in social marketing and opinion research.

This is courtesy of Dr. Emilia Lombardi from the University of Pittsburgh.  So you can make an attempt to attend either and be part of a constructive move forward for our entire community.