On October 8, 2009 several
of us in Erie’s GLBT community met with Amy Cuzzola-Kern of Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper’s Erie office. The
purpose of the meeting was to continue our effort of lobbying in support of pending federal GLBT legislation. Some of us had met with Kathy in January. We were the first group to meet with her the day her Erie office opened.
Rep.
Dahlkemper recently voted in support of two bills that are very important to the GLBT community: In August, Rep. Dahlkemper
had voted for the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill (HR 1913), the Local Law Enforcement Act of 2009, that will, when enacted, provide important protections to GLBT people
targeted for violent crime simply because they are perceived to represent the GLBT community. She also voted for the Military
Readiness Enhancement Act of 2009 (HR 1283) would repeal Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Our lobbying team wanted
to thank the congresswoman for supporting these two bills. In addition, there were several other
bills, one that will repeal the anti gay Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and another that will end discrimination of GLBT people
in the workplace that the committee wished to bring to Kathy’s attention and explain why these bills are important to
the local GLBT commmunity.
In our lobbying group were Brian B, Kathy Czarnecki, C
Michael, Diana Ames, Richard McVay, and Mike Mahler. Brian B handled the thank you’s for Kathy’s ‘yea’
vote on Hate Crimes bill (HR 1913). Kathy Czarnecki handled the thank you’s for signing on as co-sponsor of the repeal of Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell (HR 1283).
C. Michael did a lot of research about ENDA — the Employment
Non Discrimination Act of 2009 (HR 3017). This bill would add employment protection on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression
at the federal level.
Diana Ames presented information about the pro-equality Respect
for Marriage Act (HR 3567). This bill would repeal the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act passed in 1996. We pointed out that the bill
only dealt with civil marriage and that no religious institutions would be required to officiate at marriages that were not
be in accordance with their beliefs. It would allow faith traditions that are accepting of marriage equality to officiate.
Richard McVay presented information about the Ending LGBT Health Disparities Act (HR 3001).
Meeting with Tina Mengine in DC
While
in Washington, DC during the National March for Equality events, Dave Martin and Richard McVay met with Tina Mengine, legislative
aide to the congresswoman in the Congresswoman’s DC office.
Since Ms Mengine
is extremely well-informed on the four pending bills under consideration, less time was spent on the provisions of each of
the bills mentioned above, allowing more time to be spent on discussing legislative strategy.
Of particular significance at this meeting was the analysis of polling data provided by statisticians at Susquehanna
Polling and Research Center. Richard and Dave pointed out that an overwhelming 86% of Pennsylvanians support extending workplace
discrimination protections to in the workplace for GLBT employees. When broken down, the statistics further reveal that fully
71% of Pennsylvanians below the age of 59 support enactment of discrimination protections with only slightly fewer of those
over 60 supporting non-discrimination in the workplace. Similarly, support for anti-discrimination legislation is broad based
including 81% of Democrats across the state and 58% of Republicans supporting enactment of non-discrimination legislation.
This data, documented by a highly respected Pennsylvania research center, is extremely important to the Congresswoman and
her legislative aide in preparing for committee hearings and floor debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which may
well come up for consideration in the next several weeks.
Ms Mengine assured Richard and Dave
of the Representative’s interest in and support of legislation that will provide equality and fairness to all of her
constituents.
We plan on meeting with Rep Dahlkemper in person when she is back in
the district in November/December. If you would like to be a part of this or other lobbying actions, we would love to have
you join us!
This is an important way to make a difference in legislation that affects our entire
community. You can sign up for the GLBT Lobby email list at http://lists.eriegaynews.com or call Michael Mahler at (814) 456-9833 (814) 456-9833.
Preparations for the meetings
Erie office aide Amy Cuzzola-Kern made a point
of saying that our group was one of the more well-prepared with which the office had met.
During
our preparation prior to meeting with Representative’s aides, we contacted the prime sponsors of each of the bills.
This helped us to determine the current status of the each of the bills. In one case, we found out that the bill we initially
were inquiring about had been superseded by a subsequent bill. We also found out about a Dear Colleague letter, which is written
by a legislator to persuade other legislators to sign on as co-sponsors and support the bill. The office of Joe Sestak (D-PA)
was very helpful with this, as was Rep. Tammy Baldwin’s office. We also used the GovTrack.US web site to find out the status of bills, who the current co-sponsors and which committees were reviewing
the bill. We had a prep meeting a few days before the lobbying session to review who would present which bill.
Also at the prep meeting were Rich McCarty and Bob H , who provided additional support.
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