The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission announced on June 20 an update to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act that will provide protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The new regulation, which will take effect on Aug. 16, covers discrimination in employment, housing, commercial property, education and public accommodations.
The new regulation updates the PHRA definition of “sex” — which is among its protected classes — to include pregnancy status, childbirth status, breastfeeding status, sex assigned at birth, gender identity or expression, affectional or sexual orientation, and differences in sex development.
The regulation states that the update “is consistent with the manner in which the term ”sex,” as used in Title VII and Title IX, have been interpreted by Federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.” The Supreme Court ruled in Bostock v. Clayton County that employees are protected against discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The updated PHRA definition was approved last month by the PA Office of Attorney General.
“This is a great day for all Pennsylvanians,” PHRC Chairperson M. Joel Bolstein said in a press release. “All discrimination is wrong and the PHRC is pleased to see these regulations approved, guaranteeing Pennsylvanians the safety and security of knowing the Commonwealth will stand with them and protect them against acts of discrimination.”
Other LGBTQ+ advocates were quick to bring up that the Fairness Act, which passed the Pa. House in March and now sits in committee in the Republican-led Senate, still needs passage in order to further guarantee nondiscrimination protections.
“I applaud PHRC for continuing to move the needle forward to ensure that every single Pennsylvanian is treated with dignity and respect,” State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta told PGN. “As laudable as today’s action is, we must use this as momentum to finally pass the PA Fairness Act, which I sponsored. This bill, decades in the making, passed with bipartisan support and the Senate should move it swiftly.”
On June 21, the PA Senate Democrats’ Twitter account posted, “There are nearly 500K LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians and 307K LGBTQ+ workers in Pennsylvania. They deserve protection. Now is the time to pass the PA Fairness Act.”
The Fairness Act would become law if passed by both legislative chambers and signed by the governor, and it would differ from the new protections afforded by the updated PHRA regulation. Regulations are written by executive agencies and interpret how laws are meant to be enforced.
Along with the protections for the LGBTQ+ community, the new PHRA regulations also “clarify the definition for the protected class ‘race’ to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles,” as well as more clearly define “religious creed” to “include all aspects of religious observance and practice, as well as belief.”
“Too often we have heard of cases where people are discriminated against because of who they love, what religion they practice, what they look like, or how they wear their hair,” PHRC Executive Director Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW, said in a press release. “Today, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is proud to say we will not tolerate that type of discrimination in this Commonwealth. Our team worked hard to put together these regulations and we are pleased they are approved. The PHRC is committed to ending discrimination and hate and these regulations are one more way we are doing it.”
In terms of the legality of the updated definitions, the regulation cites two sections of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, 7(d) and 9(g), which state the Human Relations Commission’s ability “to adopt, promulgate, amend and rescind rules and regulations to effectuate the policies and provisions of this act,” and to “establish rules of practice to govern, expedite and effectuate the foregoing procedure and its own actions thereunder,” respectively.
