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The campus of Misericordia University is buzzing after Bishop Joseph Martino blasted a guest speaker. The school invited Keith Boykin to campus. Boykin has written on homosexuality.
Martino says the author’s beliefs are “disturbingly opposed to catholic moral teaching.”
Misericordia has issued a response to Bishop Martino, saying: “Misericordia University is committed deeply to its Catholic mission. Inseparable from that mission is our identity as an academic institution where ideas and positions are explored critically and freely.”
A video segment, including a few words from GayNEPA advisory board member Rev. Daniel C. Gunn from St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Wilkes-Barre can be found at http://tinyurl.com/d59rou or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxCxHh41-mE. Learn more
Are you registered to vote? If not, the last day to register in Pennsylvania is Monday. You must deliver your registration form to the county voter registration office by close of business on Monday.
Also, advisory board member Jeff Brauer is quoted in today’s Times Leader. Jeff is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Keystone College. View the story at http://www.timesleader.com/news/Abortion_tops_list_10-05-2008.html
The Rainbow Alliance, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, charitable organization does not endorse candidates. If you are interested in specific GLBT rights issues and candidate positions, please visit one of the following non-partisan websites:
• On the Issues Pennsylvania: http://issues2000.org/states/PA_Civil_Rights.htm
• On the Issues United States: http://issues2000.org/Civil_Rights.htm
• In the News United States: http://issues2000.org/News_Gay_Rights.htm
• National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Action Fund: http://thetaskforceactionfund.org/studies_analyses/studies_index.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Dawe (570-237-6048) – john@gaynepa.com
Stacey Sobel (215-731-1447 ext. 11) – ssobel@equalitypa.org
7-25-2008 - (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) – On July 23, 2008, The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld a Commonwealth Court decision striking down the amendments to the state’s hate crimes law that added sexual orientation, gender identity, ancestry, gender, and mental and physical disability in 2002. The law was overturned based on the procedural way the legislation was passed by the legislature, not the content of the law.
The law, known as the Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional Vandalism Act, was amended to include protections for these groups of people by a two-thirds majority of the state House of Representatives and Senate. The legislation was signed into law by Republican Governor Mark Schweiker.
Current Governor Ed Rendell said in a prepared statement, “It’s important to note that the Commonwealth Court’s decision was based on a procedural issue and not on the substance of the amendment. I urge the General Assembly to immediately pass appropriate legislation to fully reinstate this important statute, which originally was enacted with bipartisan support.”
“Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, then known as the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, worked to pass this legislation with our coalition partners and drafted the bill’s text. We are extremely disappointed that some of the most vulnerable people in Pennsylvania are now unprotected by our state’s hate crimes law. I urge the legislature to once again pass this legislation with all deliberate speed,” said Stacey Sobel, Esq. Executive Director.
“The case stems from a 2004 incident in Philadelphia where Michael Marcavage, then 25, of the anti-gay evangelical group Repent America organized a protest and was arrested under the law’s ethnic intimidation statute during the 2004 Philly OutFest parade,” said John Dawe, executive director of the NEPA Rainbow Alliance, “We’re committed to working with Equality Advocates Pennsylvania, our supporters and partners throughout the region and Commonwealth to reinstate this law so that all citizens of the commonwealth are protected against hate.”
Stephen Glassman, Chairman of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, added, “It is vitally important for our agency to be able to respond to every act of hate and bias in the Commonwealth no matter who the victim may be. We must protect the rights of people to be free from these hate crimes just as surely as we protect them on the basis of their religion, race, ethnicity, or national origin.”
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