'Rampant homophobia': Democrats blast Pennsylvania GOP for voting to keep anti-gay law
Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Monday voted to keep the word "homosexuality" included in the state's public indecency and obscenity laws, angering top-ranking Democrats including those who introduced legislation to remove the classification from the books.
Currently, for example, Pennsylvania law on prostitution characterizes "homosexual" sex among "deviate sexual relations."
Pennsylvania's obscenity law even includes this archaic definition in relation to "Obscene and other sexual materials and performances."
"Sexual conduct means acts of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality or physical contact with a person's clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, breast."
SB 609 would have removed the word "homosexual" or "homosexuality" from obscenity laws.
But on a party-line vote every Republican, led by Speaker Brian Cutler (photo), elected to abuse, attack, demean, mock, and marginalize the state's LGBTQ community by voting against the bill.
Democratic Rep. Brian Sims, the state's first openly gay elected lawmaker who is running for Lieutenant Governor in the 2022 election, blasted his GOP colleagues:
HOMOSEXUAL OBSCENITY?!? My House colleagues just voted on Party lines NOT to remove \u201cHomosexuality\u201d from Pennsylvania\u2019s obscenity laws. House Republicans voted to have the amendment killed rather have the courage of their broken convictions and actually vote on the issue. #Broken— Brian Sims (@Brian Sims) 1621882323
"Compounding the rampant homophobia of the Republican caucus with this type of aggressive cowardice is so painfully on brand. May you never have to see your colleagues vote to keep the ways you love a 'crime,'" Sims also tweeted.
If your Rep is a Republican, they voted to keep homosexuality in the Crimes Code as obscenity. If they\u2019re a Democrat, they voted to remove it.— Brian Sims (@Brian Sims) 1621885010
The Democratic House and Senate sponsors of the bill also blasted Republicans:
A shameful day in Harrisburg. @RepZabel and I introduced legislation to remove homosexuality from the state's obscenity statue, after Upper Darby did the same locally.\n\nThis is an issue of basic equality. We won't give up this fight.https://twitter.com/RepZabel/status/1396903358355673088\u00a0\u2026— Senator Tim Kearney (@Senator Tim Kearney) 1621888400
- CNN's Anderson Cooper is forced to cut Rick Santorum off before he ... ›
- Pennsylvania judge has heard enough from Rudy Giuliani ... ›
- Meet the far-right Pennsylvania Republican who believes that God ... ›
- ‘Your boos mean nothing to me': Democratic lawmaker Brian Sims slams Republicans who cut his mic - Alternet.org ›
- Scathing Pennsylvania paper editorial slams far-right Republicans for pushing 'disgraceful' election 'audit' - Alternet.org ›
- The 'Big Lie' has become a GOP litmus test in these 2 major statewide Pennsylvania races - Alternet.org ›
