DON'T LET LEGISLATORS BAN RIGHTS FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES (November 11, 2004)

The following was received from SPARC:

Please join SPARC in encouraging your friends to help us stop legislators from voting to ban domestic partner benefits, civil unions, and marriage rights for same-sex couples.  (These amendments to Senate Bill 296.)

You will find a sample letter and contact information for your legislator at

http://capwiz.com/federationlgbt/state/main/?state=PA

The legislators have put off voting on SB296 until Monday Nov. 15.  We got lucky since they were consumed with a new gambling measure, delaying other issues.

Call House Speaker John Perzel at 717-787-2016.

Ask that he not allow the measure to come for a vote since it will just drive more people from Pennsylvania to states which protect us on this issue and which are very nearby.  New Jersey, New York, Maryland.

Perzel is crucial for the following reason:

From my sources in Harrisburg, I learned last night that the head counts on each side don't favor our community.  Our supporters in the State House of Representatives don't have the votes to block it since 17-18 Democrats will probably join with a majority of Republicans in voting for it.

The good news:

So far 135 people have sent emails about the issue to their legislators via SPARC's Website Advocacy Center.  We won't have the tallies for how many used the website to find legislators' phone numbers for a few weeks.

Members of the national Association of Social Workers are also calling legislators because they see the amendments as a threat to adopted children.  Several unions are also active in the fight because the amendments threaten their recent state labor contracts.

Wednesday November 10, one aid to Representative Buxton told Scott Conlan from SPARC, " Oh, you're the guy responsible for all these letters coming in."

It's good to see they are paying attention and that our community is responding.