Legislative advocates for gay rights are urging Gov. Tom Corbett to follow the lead of his New Jersey counterpart Chris Christie and drop his challenge to same-sex marriage.
State Reps. Brian Sims and Steve McCarter, both Democrats from the Philadelphia region who are sponsoring a gay-marriage bill, issued a statement Monday within hours of Christie's announcement that he was dropping his court challenge to New Jersey's law.
Corbett has publicly opposed gay marriage and he's a defendant in a federal lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's gay-marriage ban.
Spokesman Jay Pagni noted that, unlike New Jersey's situation, no legal challenge has reached Pennsylvania's supreme court.
Sims and McCarter also noted that Pennsylvania lacks basic protections against discrimination against gays in housing, employment and public accommodation.
“Unfortunately, here in Pennsylvania, where LGBT Pennsylvanians lack even a single LGBT civil right, some members of the Republican Party would sooner be the Republicans of 1955 rather than 2025. It’s unconscionable that Pennsylvanians who get married out of state can still be fired for putting a wedding photo on their desks," Sims said.
Pennsylvania has a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and woman. The Commonwealth is now the only state in the Northeast to bar same-sex marriage.
