LGBT champion, State Representative Dan Frankel penned a letter to the Post-Gazette urging Western Pennsylvania to support Onorato because he's the better choice on LGBT issues. The cruz of his arguement is that Corbett thinks existing anti-discrimination protections on the statewide level are fine and has no intention of expanding them.  Onorato has stated he will support the expansion to include LGBT folks.

In contrast, at the same debate, Dan Onorato said of H.B. 300, "As governor, I would sign it into law. ... No one should lose their apartment or their job or their home because of their sexual identity or their orientation."

As chief executive of Allegheny County, Mr. Onorato signed a similar nondiscrimination law that protects the county's 1.2 million residents. As governor, Dan Onorato will be committed to fairness for all Pennsylvanians, which is also vital for fighting brain drain and for our economic competitiveness.

So if Corbett (and the tea bagger commenters) think all is well, that's clearly wrong and dangerous.  However, as wit most Democrats, I believe Frankel oversells Onorato. It took many, many months for him to make a public announcement supporting the Allegheny County legislation. He has a voting record of opposing these protections when he was a City Councilman.  That's not exactly a mindblowing change of position.  It is incremental and it took nearly twenty years to happen.  (Don't forget he lost his cool at an endorsement meeting b/c a certain lesbian blog published his voting record.  Ahem.)

I'm just saying that Onorato's track record AT BEST says he won't stand in the way, but there's no public evidence that he'll work to advance HB 300 or similar legislation.  We simply have to take his word for it.

And truth be told, when you think of all the promises President Obama actually made to the gay community and has yet to work on, there's just no evidence that the Governor of Pennsylvania will do any better.  Obama had significant majorities and poll data to prove that repealing DADT was fine, yet he's actually got the Department of Justice fighting to defend it.  Groan.

My point is that the Governor won't have majorities in both chambers, regardless of who wins.  The Senate still wants to defend marriage from gay people. The House just hasn't had the muscle to push HB 300 through. 

What we need is to unify as a community and put the pressure on Onorato to make this happen.  And I don't think he has the political will or muscle to do it.  He needs our votes and fundraisers on Mt. Washington, but he knows we'll be forced to support him. 

Frankel's point is short, sweet and to the point.  Onorato is the only chance to expand civil protections.  I get that, but I'll be a believer when I see some public action.  More behind the scenes machinations with the elite white gay men on Pennsylvania won't cut it with the suburban soccer mom lesbians and the many, many unemployer and underemployed LGBT folks who face a stagnant economony and the legal realities of being fired for being gay. 

I think Onorato needs our votes b/c Pennsylvania would be better if this legislation passed.  But I also believe a full court press for him to ante up on this issue is necessary. 

How about that?  I think Onorato is like Obama and man that just blows my mind.

Vote.  It is all we got, folks.

BTW, I like Nancy Pelosi.

I got nothing.  You can vote Team Democrat and hope for the best.  Or you can vote for the best commercial.  Or the candidates least likely to have to defend themselves from being labeled a witch. 

I tried to write a thoughtful analysis, but the only person I have any respect for is Joe Sestak.  Well, I do like Pat Murphy but he doesn't live here and most of you do. 

I say go with the Democrats even though a lot of them suck on LGBT issues and will probably contribute to the Obama Administration complete failure to lead. Yeah, we'll get a few more crumbs.  But, frankly, Onorato's lackluster do nothing attitude toward providing health insurance for his current employees (aka domestic partner benefits) does not bode well for him to develop a spine in the next four years.  Let's hope Dan Frankel and Daylin Leach can beat back the Christian whackos for awhile and someone else emerges in 2014.

You know what I feel like?  The woman who thinks Charlie Batch is the best human being on the entire team and yet has to sit back and watch the most horrible excuse for a man get all the glory.  Does that seem like the American way? 

Yep.

Go team. 

I've been off the radar for over a week.  I needed to recharge and rethink some of the ridiculous aspects of, well, everything. 

I've half-heartedly paid attention to the polls, but it was just last week I changed my screen-saved from "Elect Joe Hoeffel" to be honest with you.  Hardly a rousing endorsement.

I also had some thoughts about the concept of being "out" and how it really should be open to interpretation of the individual.  The key is that the person has to tell other people if they are our or not.  I think a lot of folks, including myself, sort of assume that out is out.  While we don't parade around (well, only once a year) with banners, it seems like we try to lead authentic lives. 

All of us, I must say, fail.

For example, I work with clients and must maintain certain professional boundaries to provide good services. So our rule is that we don't discuss our families in the sense of sharing the names of our spouses or details about children.  Pretty much we leave it at "I'm married with 3 kids" ... enough for some chit chat, but not enough to interfere with the "we aren't friends" boundary.  Except ... my stating that "I'm partnered with no kids" is a little bit more interference.  My sexual orientation doesn't interfere with my capacity to do my job and it has never been an issue with my colleagues at my current workplace (except Verizon but that's another story).  But it is true that being gay could get in the way of my work with clients so I just say nothing.  They all assumem I'm unmarried with no kids.  It isn't a big deal and I'm more than willling to make that compromise b/c who I am as a person leads to lots of opportunities for that casual chit chat -- I have dogs and cats, I like soap operas, etc.  It is fine. 

But it is not authentic.  It is not authentic because of the social structures that teach people that a gay identity is lesser.  I'm pretty much willing to blame churches for just about anything now since I think gay reparation therapy is one of the leading causes that kids are killing themselves. 

But I also knowingly take the risk that any resident could find out at any time. I have this blog, I'm quoted in the paper, I might be on WTAE this week.  Yeah, it is a risk.  And if it comes up, I'm already prepared to handle it.  Because I don't think it will really be a problem since I've done a good job and I've established a positive relationship with my clients. 

This week, I have a work event.  Ledcat will come (b/c she rocks) and I will be proud to introduce her. 

OK, I gotta blog about politics so enough of this ...