Task force recommends Carlisle human relations commission
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Article RatingThe Carlisle Inclusive Communities Initiative plans to recommend to borough council that it form a human relations commission and add sexual orientation and gender expression to the classes protected against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodation.
More than a dozen Pennsylvania municipalities have adopted local commissions and have made the additions to the list of protected classes, said the Rev. Duane Fickeisen, a pastor at the Unitarian Universalists of the Cumberland Valley in Boiling Springs.
Fickeisen chairs Carlisle Inclusive Communities Initiative’ sexual orientation task force, which met Tuesday night.
Currently, there is no legal protection in Pennsylvania against discrimination on the basis of perceived sexual orientation or sexual expression except in municipalities that have local human relations commissions, Fickeisen said.
Even if the General Assembly ever adds sexual orientation and gender expression to the list, he said, a local commission would be a faster, less formal process than taking a case to the state Human Relations Commission.
Jim Grove spoke out against the task force recommendation, saying it does not reflect the beliefs of many churches in town, which view homosexuality as a sin. Enacting such an ordinance would “push Christians into the closest” and be an affront of God’s law, Grove said.
Carla Pratt chairs the CICI Race Committee which also presented its recommendations. Pratt said she is a Christian who first learned bigotry against sexual orientation in church but later made up her mind to accept those who are different after researching and seeking her own direction of faith.
Pratt suggested the community form a Christian gay alliance group, which would work to build a dialogue between the two groups. Pratt added she can respect differing views among the churches challenging them to do the same.
Describes undercurrent
Tamara Storey, who sat next to Grove during the meeting, said no one has the right, in Carlisle or anywhere in the United States, to marginalize her because she is a lesbian and an African-American woman.
“Me and my partner are valid in this community,” Storey said, adding while she felt more accepted in Philadelphia, there has been no backlash against her children in Carlisle. She described the borough as appearing fine on the surface but having an undercurrent of homophobia.
Storey added she knows of people in town who, instead of challenging their church to grow, keep their sexual orientation hidden from others in the congregation out of fear of what may happen should they come out.
The 43-year-old woman describes herself as an ordinary soccer mom with much the same struggles as anyone holding a job and being a parent. Storey said she wants her children to learn how to advocate and defend themselves.
Storey took issue with the stereotypes people have of lesbians and with people who use religion to justify marginalizing others.
“Only God can judge me. Who are you, proxies of God?” she said.
She added the students she sees as director of counseling at Dickinson College do not care about her sexual orientation, so why should anyone else?
The question was raised of whether a hate crime was committed against two women who recently closed their business and said they planned to leave Carlisle because they no longer felt safe.
While there has been speculation that one of the women, who was found unconscious on the floor of their restaurant, had been assaulted, police have not found evidence pointing to a crime.
Different standard?
Neither woman attended the meeting Tuesday night.
But Linda Ewing, who was one of the two women involved, said this morning she thinks what happened to Martha Shelly, her partner of almost 20 years, could be identified as a hate crime. However, she said, she considers it more significant that she feels there is a different standard of justice for different people in Carlisle and that their case would have been treated differently if they were not life as well as business partners.
“It’s not just homophobia — it’s a lot of different people,” Ewing said. “I don’t want to play up the gay issue as much as to say I don’t think the black population is treated the same as the white population.”
For example, she said, last year when CPARC proposed opening a group home in Carlisle, a petition was circulated to keep it out.
“I was astonished,” said Ewing. Although she is in favor of the initiative, Ewing said she thinks inclusiveness has been discussed and now action needs to be taken.
“I think that, for example, when people circulate a petition to keep people out, the mayor or the borough council need to take a stand,” she said. “This is not acceptable behavior.”
