Pa. House member resigns from committees following alleged homophobic slurs about gay lawmaker

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The western Pennsylvania Republican lawmaker accused of going on an anti-gay tirade about Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta has resigned his House committee assignments.

Aaron Bernstine resigned from the House Insurance, Intergovernmental Affairs and Operations, Labor and Industry, and Transportation committees. His replacements were announced on the House floor on Tuesday.

Last week, a member of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council told Penn Live that Bernstine used anti-gay slurs about Kenyatta and falsely claimed that Kenyatta lost weight because he has AIDS.

Bernstine denied the allegations and accused the building trades of threatening him.

Bernstine did not say whether the accusations led to his decision to resign from his committees. He told the Philadelphia Inquirer his focus was on “delivering results on the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians” in the remaining days of the legislative session.

Kenyatta renewed his call for Bernstine to resign his seat in the state House. He said stepping down from committees was “an important first step in accountability.”