Legislation
Legislation We Are Watching and Engaging With for the LGBTQ+ Community.
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The Fairness Act extends the coverage of the Pennsylvania Human Relations act, the primary civil rights statute in the state, to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. This extends non-discrimination policies on these groups with employment, housing and public accommodations.
Why is it needed?
Pennsylvania law does not explicitly protect LGBTQ+ individuals statewide, and the only protections currently in place vary between counties and municipalities with a significant amount of the population not covered by these local ordinances. Expanding on the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act would also allow complaints on LGBTQ+ discrimination to be formally pursued through the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Currently, Pennsylvania is one of the only Northeastern states that has no explicit statewide LGBTQ+ nondiscrimination protections.
The most recent polling that has been done in Pennsylvania with voters was done several years ago. However, at the time, a significant percentage of Pennsylvanians supported the passage of HB 300 at a rate of 71%.
What would it impact?
If passed, discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community would explicitly be illegal within specific areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. With employment, it would include hiring, firing, promotions, pay, and working conditions. Within housing, it would include renting, buying, mortgage loans, and housing access. Within public accommodations, it would include businesses and services that are open to the public, like restaurants, hotels, and stores. It does not apply to athletics or impact medical provider rights.
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House Bill 632 focuses on reforming the Pennsylvania criminal code to remove the felony status of HIV when it comes to sentencing with prostitution and related offenses. The current law says that someone who engages in prostitution with knowledge of their HIV-positive status could have their charge elevated to a felony level. This bill would remove punishment based on medical status.
Why is it needed?
The law is outdated for the current state of science and medical practices that exist around the treatment of HIV and AIDS. Looking at modern scientific advancements, medicine is widely available that is preventative for the treatment of HIV as well as for the long term management for someone living with this status that brings their viral load to an unspreadable and undetectable amount. Advancements have turned HIV from a death sentence into a manageable disease that people can live long and productive lives with.
What would it impact?
The law specifically amends Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of Pennsylvania law to remove the HIV based felony enhancement. If passed, people would no longer face additional charges simply for being HIV positive.
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House Bill 1311 prohibits the use of the LGBTQ+ Panic Defense in the case of violent crimes during court proceedings. The “panic defense” strategy is where a defendant argues that they were provoked to violence due to a victim's sexual orientation or gender identity.
Why is it needed?
This has been used to reduce charges or lessen sentencing on the basis of homophobia and transphobia. The defense’s base is around the idea that violence is more justified if it is against someone because of their gender identity, gender expression, or their sexual orientation.
What would it impact?
This bill would prohibit courts from considering this argument as a defense which would prevent bias from being used to justify the violent act. This also would prevent bias from being utilized to reduce the responsibility of the offender. It would help ensure that cases are being reviewed based on the person’s actions rather than their biases. This bill only removes bias as a justification for violence and is consistent with other court limits on harmful defenses.
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House Bill 1315 focuses on reforming the name change process in regards to publication of notices currently required by petitioners. Currently, the requirement for individuals changing their legal name is for them to publish it into two newspapers that service an area relative to where they live. There is a process that exists where petitioners can apply to waive this requirement, however it varies individually by the county they reside in and the judges that are in their offices to make the final decision and in many areas, there has been little success with this process.
Why is it needed?
The current legal name change process is already costly to begin with, and the additional requirement of publication does not just pose as a financial barrier but also is a safety barrier. With well documented cases of discrimination on the basis of gender identity or expression, the public nature of this requirement impacts employment, housing, and other areas of individuals lives negatively and can place a target on them from anti-lgbtq+ individuals and groups. This current process is an unnecessary barrier for trans and nonbinary individuals to be able to live with accurate identification.
What would it impact?
The only impact this would have is the publication of these changes into newspapers that would out these individuals. This does not impact the background check requirements or other requirements such as the court hearing itself. The courts already are performing background checks to ensure that petitioners are legitimate and not undergoing this process as a way of curbing debt collectors or criminal charges.
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This bill aims to update Pennsylvania law to remove outdated language that bans same-sex marriage in the statute. It would redefine marriage in the law to be a civil union between two people rather than between a man and a woman.
Why is it needed?
In 2014, a federal lawsuit (Whitewood v. Wolf) ruled that Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional due to violating the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses of the US Constitution. This bill simply cleans up Pennsylvania law to match what is legally already happening and reaffirms to Pennsylvanians that the keystone state is a place where they are welcomed and embraced for who they love.
What would it impact?
This bill would change the wording in Pennsylvania law to remove the court decided unconstitutional language to codify marriage equality in the state. It does not change the process, requirements, or other legalities around marriage.
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House Bill 1902 was introduced as part of a package to reform how Pennsylvania approaches hate crimes. This specific bill seeks to provide law enforcement with the training necessary to investigate, identify, and prevent hate-based intimidation crimes. It requires that officers have ongoing training relating to hate crimes and improves the accuracy in reporting. This bill was introduced alongside House Bill 1905 (next section).
Why is it needed?
As part of the broader package, this legislation extends hate crime protections and training to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. In comparison to other states, Pennsylvania currently has less comprehensive laws and this helps to bring the state up to date with standards and practices. There has been an unfortunate increase in hate based crimes in Pennsylvania and this bill helps to prepare law enforcement to approach, identify, and ultimately work to prevent hate based crimes.
What would it impact?
This directly impacts the training and preparation of law enforcement in regards to hate crimes. It also reforms how data is collected and used towards future training and crime prevention.
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House Bill 1905 was introduced as part of a package to reform how Pennsylvania approaches hate crimes. This specific bill redefines hate crimes from “ethnic intimidation” to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. The current law defines hate crimes with ethnic intimidation to include race, religion, color, and national origin and this proposed bill would expand those protections into groups that have seen an increase in hate based crime against them in recent years, strengthening protections for the LGBTQ+ community.
Why is it needed?
The expansion to include gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation strengthens protections for the LGBTQ+ community in a point in time where violence against that community is on the rise. In conjunction with HB 1902, this allows that bill’s proactive approach to prevention to include other vulnerable communities especially in response and approach. The LGBTQ+ community is five times more likely than those that are non-LGBTQ+ to be victims of violent crimes. Action needs to be taken to hold violent acts that are rooted in hate accountable accordingly.
https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/lgbt-volent-crime-press-release/
What would it impact?
HB 1905 would explicitly recognize crimes targeting an individual on the basis of their LGBTQ+ status as hate crimes to give prosecutors clearer guidelines in pressing charges. This also allows victims access to stronger civil remedies.
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House Bill 2199 was introduced in February of 2026 to update the state’s education law to require policies to be put into place that addresses gender based bullying in schools, including on the basis of gender identity and gender expression. It also ensures that schools have clear guidelines on their response to reports of gender based bullying.
Why is it needed?
Right now, schools have general anti-bullying policies, but not all address gender based bullying, especially in regards to gender identity and gender expression. This ensures that students are protected based off their gender identity or expression across the state, rather than in just some districts.
What would it impact?
This bill specifically ensures that all schools address this bullying seriously and have set policies when these acts are committed. This means clearly defining the types of bullying as well as having them establish adequate response mechanisms.
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This bill would require that K-12 and College level sports teams be designated as male, female, or coed, and requirements would be based on an individual’s sex assigned at birth. This legislation also creates a cause of action if someone believes that they were harmed by violations of the policy, meaning that they could sue.
Why is it not needed?
There is no demonstrated impact in Pennsylvania that including trans students in athletic participation in line with their gender identity creates a disadvantage for cisgender athletes. Additionally, this legislation There is no widespread issue that would warrant this legislation. Science has shown that excluding students from athletic opportunities can cause negative mental health outcomes and this additionally limits their access to opportunities that promote physical well being. The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) oversee these levels of athletics and already have processes and policies in place, this bill takes away their authority to self govern. This bill also opens up local school districts to potentially costly litigation, as seen with other states that have enacted similar legislation. Lawsuits on schools end up costing the taxpayer.
What would it impact?
Senate Bill 9 would prevent trans students from competing on athletic teams in accordance to their gender identity, regardless of any other factor. With this legislation defining sex as the sex assigned to someone at birth, there is also no consideration for trans students who have undergone medical transition.