News Item

Sexual minorities fight for freedom from discrimination

The Express-Times, February 15, 2004
By Beth Braverman

For 13 years, Gary Greenberg served as director of St. Luke's Hospital's residency program in podiatry, earning national recognition, publishing in research journals and serving as an evaluator of other residency programs.

Last May, Greenberg told his supervisor he was a transsexual and would soon start presenting himself as a woman.

Greenberg was fired.

"My qualifications were unusually good, which made the discrimination unusually blatant," said Greenberg, who has legally changed her name to Gwen and has lived as a woman since July. Because the podiatry program, which Greenberg founded, is in Allentown, the doctor had legal options under a city ordinance passed in 2002 extending employment and housing discrimination protection to sexual minorities. Greenberg, 53, filed a complaint with the Allentown Human Relations Commission, becoming the first person to allege discrimination under the controversial law.

St. Luke's Hospital spokeswoman Patty Stinner said the hospital had no comment on the case, which is winding its way through the court system. "My number one goal (in filing the complaint) is to do my part to prevent this from happening in the future to someone else," Greenberg said. If the alleged discrimination had taken place in Easton or
Bethlehem, Greenberg would have had far fewer options. Allentown is one of only a handful of municipalities in the state and the only one in the Lehigh Valley that offers such protection to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered citizens. New Jersey is one of 14 states that offers such protections statewide, a posture that many LGBTs would like to see Pennsylvania take.  "We're going to continue working at the local level," said Steve Black, a Pen Argyl resident and the political director of the Pennsylvania Gay and Lesbian Alliance for Political Action. "The idea to have a state bill is so everybody is covered, so it's not piecemeal."

The state also has better resources and mechanisms to handle complaints, Black said. An even better way to handle such complaints would be through federal protection, he said. At the heart of the desire for legal protection against
discrimination is the desire for recognition of the basic civil rights of LGBTs, said Terry Conrad, a drag queen and comedian who performs regularly at Diamondz, a predominately lesbian night club in Bethlehem.  "I don't want to survive in a gay-themed world," he said. "I want to be like everyone else. We're the only minority group that's not being given our rights."

The country has advanced considerably in the past few decades in terms of recognition and acceptance LGBTs, said Bangor resident Ed Hill. But the battle isn't over, he said. "Pennsylvania will have to be pulled along, struggling and
screaming, because of the conservative nature of the state," Hill said. "We will take whatever comes our way, but I don't think Pennsylvania will be the next state to give gays easy equal rights or ever put anything on the books to protect gay people."

Statewide bills protecting LGBTs from discrimination have been introduced in both the House and the Senate, said Stacy Sobel, executive director of the Philadelphia-based Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights. "These types of laws are very important, not only to LGBT people but to the health of our state," she said. "All employees need to know they will be judged on their ability and work, not on their sex or gender." The failure to pass anti-discrimination laws will keep talented workers from seeking careers in the state, Sobel said. "These types of laws will make us more competitive with our neighbor states," she added.

But not everyone agrees that LGBTs should have such rights. Four Allentown property owners have challenged Allentown's ordinance in Lehigh County court, claiming Allentown's amendment to its Human Relations Commission Act oversteps its bounds because protection based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not included in the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

One of those landlords, South Whitehall Township resident John Lapinski, said he also disagrees with the idea of affording discrimination protection to LGBTs. "They're saying they're a minority, but that's not a minority, that's a lifestyle," he said. "Basically, it's not right. According to what I read in the Bible, it's an abomination." Though no LGBTs have asked to rent his property, Lapinski thinks he should be able to reject such tenants. "I should have rights too when I rent my property out," he said. "I am paying taxes. I believe a marriage is a man and a woman, and I wouldn't want to rent my property to two guys. That's ridiculous."

Lawyers for all the Pennsylvania municipalities that have similar ordinances are watching the Allentown case closely, because a court ruling against the Allentown law could invalidate the other laws, said Mary Catherine Roper, a lawyer representing the city of Harrisburg, which has joined Allentown as co-defendant in the case.  Roper thinks the Allentown ordinance will stand up in court. "We believe the power to protect your citizens against discrimination is one of the most fundamental roles of any municipality," she said.

Reporter Beth Braverman can be reached at 610-258-7171