Pennsylvania lawmakers have taken a step toward prohibiting whites-only communities from forming in the commonwealth and adding discrimination protections for LGBTQ individuals to state law.
The bill that squeaked through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on April 28 seeks to close legal loopholes that enabled an extremist group to carve out roughly 160 acres in Arkansas for a whites-only community. The leaders of this group, called Return to the Land, have expressed interest in replicating their model around the nation — and Pennsylvania Rep. Ben Waxman, a Philadelphia Democrat, says lawmakers should make clear they’re not welcome in the Keystone State.
But the bill, HB 2103, barely passed in the House, with all the chamber’s Republicans and one Democrat voting against it after a prolonged debate over the proposal’s LGBTQ anti-discrimination provisions.
That language wasn’t in Waxman’s original proposal, but an April 27 amendment combined his bill with a proposal from Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta called the Fairness Act. GOP representatives argued that the new version would give transgender girls and women access to female athletics, bathrooms and locker rooms.
“This would be one more way in which protections could be eroded when it comes to girls’ athletics,” said Rep. Jamie Walsh, a Luzerne County Republican.
Democrats charged their colleagues with layering an imagined meaning onto the legislation, which they said simply added sexual orientation and gender identity to a list of protected classes under the commonwealth’s civil rights laws.
“This bill is not about what the bathroom police want you to believe it is about,” said Kenyatta, a Philadelphia Democrat.
He later added that “whether you join us or not, we are going to stand firm on what makes America, America. And in the fundamental belief that everybody, everybody, deserves to be treated with dignity, decency and respect.”
Having passed the House, HB 2103 now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate for consideration.
What would Waxman’s underlying bill do?
Return to the Land says it is a private membership association and does not sell land, allowing it to circumvent laws to prevent housing discrimination. Waxman’s bill attempts to eliminate any possible legal loopholes related to private clubs and associations.
While housing experts have said the Arkansas development appears to be violating the law, the group’s leaders believe the political climate created by President Donald Trump’s administration might help them withstand a legal challenge, the New York Times has reported.
The group has expressed interest in establishing similar communities in Appalachia, the Ozarks and the deep South.
