FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | March 7, 2025
PA Youth Congress Responds to Cruel Petition in Commonwealth Court to Reverse Regulatory LGBTQ Nondiscrimination Protections in Pennsylvania
HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Youth Congress has released the following statement in reaction to yesterday’s filing of a petition for review in the Commonwealth Court of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission regulation that provides for LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections under the definition of sex (Docket No. 78 MD 2025). Regulation #52-13: Protected Classes Under the PHRA and PFEOA was promulgated in 2023. The petition for review was filed by the South Side Area School District, Knoch School District, a Chester County parent and her children, a Delaware County parent and her child, a Montgomery County parent who is a Perkiomen Valley School District Board member and his child, State Rep. Aaron Bernstine and his children, and State Rep. Barbara Gleim — against the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. The Pennsylvania Youth Congress is PA’s first and only statewide LGBTQ youth organization, and Pennsylvania’s only PA-based statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization headquartered in Harrisburg.
This cruel filing in Commonwealth Court is part of the continued assault on the progress and civil rights of vulnerable LGBTQ Pennsylvanians. We believe that this petition grounded in baseless, overly litigated, and false tropes should be swiftly thrown out of state court.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that sexual orientation and gender identity are included in the definition of sex under Title VII. In Bostock, our top federal court found that discrimination on the basis of sex is rooted in sex stereotyping — negative actions against someone for not aligning with what one person subjectively feels is masculine or feminine enough. Every single person has a sexual orientation and gender identity — we all have characteristics subject to sex stereotyping.
Do these plaintiffs fully grasp the implications of their filings? The arguments put forth in this petition posit a dangerous demand on all Pennsylvanians. If taken to their logical conclusion, they suggest that a woman wearing pants instead of a dress could be denied service at a restaurant or that a man without a sufficiently thick beard or deep voice could be refused employment. This is sex stereotyping — enforcing outdated and factually incorrect notions of what is a ‘correct’ gender identity and sexual orientation. Nondiscrimination protections on the basis of sex safeguards all people. That’s what the General Assembly would have intended in 1955 since they didn’t explicitly define ‘sex’ — inclusive of all the characteristics about sex and not a revisionist, reductive definition based in modern disinformation and bigotry.
Some are so deeply opposed to the progress made in LGBTQ acceptance that they push the narrative that only heterosexual and cisgender identities should be legally recognized. Fortunately, our federal courts got this one right. A Pennsylvania state agency aligning its regulations with a US Supreme Court ruling and other key legal precedents is hardly controversial. In Pennsylvania’s regulatory process, the legislature had the chance to block this policy but chose not to. Regulation #52-13 was properly promulgated.
In a forthcoming report, the Pennsylvania Youth Congress has found in PA that while just over 20 school districts have passed anti-transgender board policies, more than 120 districts have adopted gender identity nondiscrimination protections. A majority of Pennsylvanians support the passage of LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination legislation in the General Assembly, which means the public backs the current protections in place.
Attacking LGBTQ youth through legal punches may selfishly advance some careers and boost fundraising, but it comes at a lethal and inhumane cost. Many young LGBTQ Pennsylvanians will see this case and wonder if their state is a safe place where they can simply exist. The harmful rhetoric pushed by these organizations and individuals has real life threatening consequences. The inability to legislate their hate has led them to our courts. While the dehumanization of LGBTQ people through government continues, we urge young LGBTQ Pennsylvanians and their families to remember the movements for love and inclusion are far stronger in our commonwealth than any opposition.
The Pennsylvania Youth Congress and ACLU took on groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and Independence Law Center in federal court and won in the Boyertown case. For Boyertown and now in South Side, the endgame argument that there is catastrophic harm to straight or cisgender people by letting LGBTQ Pennsylvanians breathe and walk down the street with equality is a losing one.
###
The Pennsylvania Youth Congress advances freedom and justice for young LGBTQ Pennsylvanians by advocating for responsible public policy. Established in 2011, PYC represents citizens working toward safer schools and thriving communities across the commonwealth. PYC is PA’s only Pennsylvania-based statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization headquartered in Harrisburg.
payouthcongress.org
03.06.25 - Petition for Review re PHRC regs