HARRISBURG (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania House passed a Republican-sponsored bill this week that decriminalizes homosexuality. Democrats call it a good first step but hope for more protections for the LGBTQ community.
Montgomery County Republican Todd Stephens is co-sponsor of the bill along with Franklin County Republican Paul Schemel. Stephens says, while Pennsylvania’s marriage laws have been updated in recent years, other laws have remained stuck in the past.
HB 2125 amends Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statute, which regulates crimes and offenses.
“It’s a very simple bill,” Stephens said. “This is clean-up language, long overdue, removing references to homosexuality from our crimes code.”
Some Democrats bristled that it took so long.
“It's a good thing that both parties can agree that our current law as written is cruel and absurd. Legislators in Illinois came to the same conclusion more than 60 years ago,” said Allegheny County Democrat Dan Frankel.
Delaware County Democrat Mike Zabel says he started the efforts to correct the language when he saw Upper Darby’s law, and realized the wording was based on the Pennsylvania statute.
“In many contexts, it is still legal to discriminate against Pennsylvanians who are LGBTQ+. That still needs to be changed, but this is at least a step,” Zabel said.
Philadelphia Democrat Malcolm Kenyatta said there is a lot that still needs to be done.
“There are still Pennsylvanians in every single corner of the commonwealth who can be kicked out of their homes simply because of who they are and who they love," Kenyatta said. "There are still Pennsylvanians all across the commonwealth who can lose their jobs simply because of who they are and who they love, who can be thrown out of public accommodations because of who they are and who they love.”
There were no votes against the bill, but a handful of more conservative Republicans in the House abstained from voting. The bill now heads to the Senate.