Today was an amazing day. No, they didn't invent a new hair-growth product. Today we in the Judiciary Committee defeated an effort to enshrine bigotry in our State Constitution. We beat, by a margin of 8-6, SB 707 which would have constitutionally prohibited same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. Since my job in the minority generally consists of voting "no" on stuff that's going to pass anyway, it was a great feeling to win one.


There are many amazing things about today's vote. First, it happened in Pennsylvania. Too often on social issues we spend our time cursing out the wild-eyed liberals of Mississippi or complaining that the Burqas favored by the Taliban are too revealing. I don't mean to overstate it, but we have signs saying "Leaving Pennsylvania, Entering Gomorrah" near the borders on all of our interstates.

The other thing that was amazing was the fact that this bill passed the very same Committee that passed a more restrictive bill just 2 years ago by a 10-4 margin. There has been only one change in personnel. This means that 3 Senators actually changed their minds! In doing so they showed great personal courage.

I love when people display courage, even though I am myself afraid of many things. I'm afraid of spiders, snakes, photos of spiders and snakes, people spelling S-P-I-D-E-R or S-N-A-K-E or even people misspelling those words. I'm afraid of clouds, most sauces, especially those with a cream base, tigers, heights, guys who want me to pay my bar tab, shirts, tissues, nuclear war and those peep chicks they sell at Easter. You get the idea.

I was also thrilled that this was a bi-partisan effort. The NO votes included 5 Democrats and 3 Republicans. We hadn't done anything truly bi-partisan since the Republican vs. Democrat Twister tournament this past Christmas. Lets just say that some of those guys from Lancaster County are really flexible.

There were some aspects of this epic journey that troubled me. In particular the E-mails I received. Most were supportive of my efforts to bring equality to Pennsylvania. But the many that were not, were truly frightening. Since this is a family BLOG (in the sense that whole families avoid reading it) I won't repeat actual language. I'll just say that there's an awful lot of hate out there. And I struggle to understand where it comes from.

I plan to write more about the origins of homophobia in the near future. But for now, my hats off to the brave, wise, and enlightened Senators who vote for equality today. They have made millions of gay people they'll never meet feel as if they just a little bit more included in the human family. That's not a bad day's work. Plus, there's no physical labor involved, which is always a plus.