Pennsylvania Marriage Amendment Defeated

Attempts to pass a resolution to amend the Pennsylvania constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman was defeated in the senate judiciary committee on Tuesday by a vote of 8-6, with three Republicans suddenly crossing party lines at the eleventh hour.

Keystone Progress, a Pennsylvania LGBT rights group, reported on their blog yesterday,

"This is your victory. We had over 120,000 emails sent to senators, over 75,000 in the last 24 hours! In addition, our allies and friends generated thousands more phone calls, emails and letters.

We should celebrate, but we need to remain vigilant. It is unlikely, but it is possible that the bill could come to life again. Especially if they think we aren't going to act again."

Philadelphia Gay News reported yesterday that although similar bills have been defeated in the past, the Judiciary Committee did approve the measure two years ago by a vote of 10-4, but it was eventually defeated.

PGN reported yesterday: Sen. John Eichelberger (R-30th Dist.) introduced the so-called Marriage Protection Amendment earlier this year after first pledging to spearhead such a measure last spring.

“We knew this was coming in the last couple of days because some of the people had switched their votes,” Eichelberger said, noting that even though the table motion could allow for the bill to be resurrected before the end of this session, that’s not going to happen. “The people who voted for this were voting to kill it. That’s the realistic picture. Why they did it, I don’t know, because they are some of the people who were in support of this effort in the past.”

As I reported yesterday, blogger John Morgan of the Pennsylvania Progressive threatened to out closeted gay legislators who voted in favor of the bill. You could speculate on whether or not this was a factor, but it is interesting to note that all it took was for three politicians to suddenly change their votes for the bill to be defeated. Could the threat of being outed have caused these three to out themselves? I don't think we've heard the last of this.

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Pennsylvania Blogger Threatens to Out Senators for Anti-Gay Vote

Pennsylvania takes up the issue of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage today. One blogger has decided that enough is enough and he is using his blog to fight back. The Pennsylvania Progressive's John Morgan says he knows who's in the closet in the state capital of Harrisonburg and has threatened out any closeted gays who support an anti-gay amendment to the state's constitution.

On Friday, Morgan wrote: Do you remember last year when State Sen. John Eichelberger debated Sen. Daylin Leach about marriage equality?  He said this about the gay and lesbian citizens of Pennsylvania:  "we allow them to exist."  No one "allows me to exist."  The threat implied by those words outraged Pennsylvanians everywhere. ...He wants to make discrimination in Pennsylvania legal and his actions doing so will encourage violence against GLBT persons.  After all, if these people are second class citizens under the law isn't it OK to bash them, assault them or even kill them?  Isn't that what Sen. Eichelberger meant when he said "we allow them to exist?" 

Morgan says he's serious about fighting the homophobes in the Keystone State, "I spend a fair amount of time in Harrisburg.  I know who is closeted.  Any closeted Senator who votes for Eichelberger's bill will be outed.  I also know a State Senator who is wildly homophobic and is also an alcoholic.  One of her rants will also be made public depending on her vote.  This is fair warning."

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