Penn. State Rep Pushes for Anti-Gay Marriage Amendment

After the Republican tsunami of November 2010, the GOP now is making its message clear. Is their sole priority bringing a fraught economy back on its feet?

You'd think. But at least one representative of the Pennsylvania House, however, has his focus on something other than pocketbook issues: securing traditional marriage in the Keystone State.

Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County) has begun gathering co-sponsors in the House around a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman. Metcalfe, who opposes gun control and funding for family planning agencies like Planned Parenthood, also started an online petition on his website that he encourages church members and family members to distribute throughout their communities in the name of traditional marriage.

"Natural law dictates that the foundational building block of society is the joining together of a man and a woman, which is practiced in marriage," Metcalfe writes on his site. "If this basic truth is undermined it will have grave consequences for our families, our children, our society, our state and our nation. Government of the people and by the people has an obligation to recognize and conform to natural law for the people."

Brian Sims, board president of Equality Pennsylvania and chairman of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia, sent out a message on his listserv calling Metcalfe's actions out of touch with the priorities of voters.

"We know from polling this state that banning gay marriage is clearly not an issue that Pennsylvanians support," Sims told EDGE. "This state, by and large, has had a very good history on civil rights. I don't understand, at a point when the Republican Party took a very decisive control of the House, the Senate, and the governor seat, with a message of jobs and the economy, why now would this particular representative choose this time in history to buck the reputation of this state? Why now?"

A Cause? Or a Ruse?
Ted Martin, executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, told EDGE that he's worried the amendment could be a guise to introduce budget cuts to non profits.

"My biggest concern, for one, is that this is used as a possible smokescreen while other difficult choices are being made," he said. "While the budget is being debated, while some hard choices are being made about taxes and cuts, this is a way to kind of cynically gin up the true believers that are out there. And then I really think that my biggest fear is that people think that this is something worth doing."

Martin, who celebrated his 11th anniversary with his husband last week, added that statistics point against the argument that same-sex marriage threatens traditional marriage.

"Massachusetts, which has had gay marriage for years now, has the lowest divorce rate in the country," he said, adding wryly, "while Texas, which has the most vicious anti-same sex marriage laws on the book, has the highest divorce rate," he said.

Earlier this month, David Catanese of Politico told EDGE that as long as unemployment remains at 10 percent, any type of social reform is unlikely to pass. Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, agreed adding that she does not expect any type of pro-LGBT legislation to pass through Congress in the next two years.

For his part, Sims argues that if the GOP truly has the economy in their best interest, they will support LGBT inclusive legislation in the workplace. "The types of gains that we're hoping to make with this republican administration are gains that are supported by business, because they make the region more attractive," he said.

"I don't think what we want to do and what the Republican Party wants to do with this agenda are in any way misaligned," he added. "I think that these things can work hand in hand. We have municipal non-discrimination clauses popping up all over the state and really they're not happening because of the statewide Legislature. They're happening because local city councils and town councils are getting together and realizing that they need to have these types of protections in place to protect the workers that big businesses want."

Pennsylvania is the only state in the Northeast that has not passed legislation to protect employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation in private businesses.

Malcolm Lazin, executive director of Equality Forum, remains doubtful that any legislation in favor of the LGBT community is likely to pass in a state government dominated by republicans.

"I think, realistically, it's going to be very difficult to get any pro-equality legislation passed in Pennsylvania," Lazin told EDGE. "You have a republican controlled House, a republican controlled Senate, and a republican Governor. And we're talking about a state in which currently we don't even have hate crime legislation. From the viewpoint of LGBT equality, Pennsylvania is in a league with Mississippi and Alabama."

EDGE scheduled an interview with Metcalfe, but he did not return the request in time for publishing.