thomascwaters.com

I haven’t even mentioned PA HB 300 for quite a while since it has been impossible get PA Representative’s offices to even think about scheduling meetings, but it really is time to be thinking about what happens after PA has a budget and the Federal Congress is on the August recess. My emphasis on both the state and federal is intentional, even though in the past I haven’t said much about advocacy work and your elected officials in Washington. My point today: ramp up to use the next four weeks to accomplish as much as you can for the issues that matter most to you, because if you don’t, who will? Not only that, but it is your voice that matters most at the moment. This is true for my readers, no matter where you live- your voice matters and the collective “we” needs every single voice more than ever before.

At the State level

PA HB 300 remains waiting in committee for your voice. The House leadership will bring it back to the full House for a vote when they feel more sure it has enough votes to pass. We aren’t that far away from that point. Several people who are “in the know” tell me they feel there are probably more affirmative votes out there than they are counting, so just a few more they are sure about will be a that they need. Everyone (in Harrisburg) has been overwhelmed with numbers and budget, and politics, and the best opportunity exists now for your personal voice to be heard! A personal voice will stand out from all of the business-as-usual that has filed all of their time. How about commit to the following:

1. Write a personal letter to your PA House Representative and ask him or her to support  PA HB 300. It can be typed or handwritten but it needs to be a personal letter and not a form letter expressing your genuine opinion, and it is pretty much assured at getting into their hands and read. It doesn’t need to be long; it doesn’t have to spell out the full case for PA HB 300; but it needs to say clearly why you want them to support and vote for the legislation. Your reason may be  as simple because you think it is the right thing to do to offer everyone in the state freedom from discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, or it can be as involved as sharing more deeply how PA HB 300 will impact your life. And make this letter a low-tech, person to person communication. This is a letter on paper sent through the US postal mail service, sot hat your rep has something to hold in their hands. Will you commit to writing this letter over the next few days?
2. If you have been trying to schedule a meeting with your representative, you may be on a first name basis with their office staff. If not, why not use the next week to get to that point? Stop into the representative’s local office  and introduce yourself to their administrative staff as one of  [representative's name] constituents. Be friendly. Let them know that over the August break, you would like to stop back in and meet with the representative. Get this person on your side. You don’t have to sell your position to them, but you want them to want to help you get on the representative’s calendar. There may be a long line of people who want a part of the representative’s calendar during August, so do what you can to help “position” yourself for 15-30 minutes of that time. A wise person once said you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar. If you are already on a first name basis with their staff, a simple phone call to “just touch base” may be all that you need, or if you are lucky, they may be able to get you on the calendar. Will you commit to stopping into the office or calling to touch base with the representative’s staff?
3. What about your State Senators?  My suggestion is to do the exact same thing for your PA Senators. While HB 300 is just that, a House Bill, it will be coming to the Senate at some point, and now is an ideal moment to get your thoughts about state-wide nondiscrimination protection in front of them. They already have 2 bills in front of them which are extremely highly charged: Eichelberger’s constitutional ban against Marriage Equality, and Daylin Leach’s bill proposing Marriage Equality. It is unclear how your personal voice will impact a senator’s ideas about either of these bills because the issue is so politically charged. But it is a perfect time to offer each senator a reminder that in these rough economic times, millions of Pennsylvanians fear they could lose their job or not be hired simply because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Even straight people who are perceived as possibly gay suffer from this discrimination.

At the Federal Level

I have every intention of writing about your Federal elected officials, but this post has become long enough, so I’ll save that to later.

To do list for July 30, 2009:

1. Write a personal letter to your State Representative and mail it to their local office.
2. Write a personal letter to your State Senator and mail it to their local office.
3. Stop by their local office to touch base and meet their administrative staff. Lay the groundwork for getting on the schedule.

Let me know how you do with that! Drop me an email or leave a comment here on the blog!