NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  June 26, 2008

CONTACT:  Diane Gramley   1.814.271.9078 or 1.814.437.5355

It Appears Representative Sally Kern Was Right About Pittsburgh City Council

(Pittsburgh) –   In March the Victory Fund, a group that works to get homosexuals elected to public office, posted the edited remarks of Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern on YouTube.   The two minutes and 52 seconds of remarks that were posted included the mention of Pittsburgh as one city where homosexuals were advancing their agenda. (Click here to read Representative Kern’s unedited remarks.) Recent actions taken by the Pittsburgh City Council have proven Representative Kern’s words to be true, asserted the American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a statewide traditional values group.

“Representative Kern made her initial remarks in January and these past six months have shown that Pittsburgh is working to advance the homosexual agenda . . . from supporting H.B. 1400 which would require employers to allow male employees who think they are women to use the women’s restroom and workplace shower and dressing room facilities to last week’s approval of the domestic partner registry,” noted Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA.

Timeline:

n      January Bruce Kraus sworn in as new Pittsburgh City Council member representing District 3.

n      January 29^th the City Council passes a resolution encouraging the Pittsburgh delegation to Harrisburg to support H.B. 1400 and S.B. 761 which would add ‘sexual orientation and gender identity’ to the PA Human Relations Act..  (Click here to read the minutes -- page 9)

 n           April 10^th both City Council President Doug Shields and Council Member Bruce Kraus testify in opposition to S.B. 1250, the Marriage Protection 

         Amendment, in a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Senate Appropriations Committees held in Pittsburgh.

n      June 3^rd Bruce Kraus introduces legislation to create a ‘mutual commitment registry.’   Giving some of the same rights of married couples to unmarried couples.

n      June 17^th City Council passed Bill 2008-0484 which creates a ‘mutual commitment registry’ or domestic partner registry for all Pittsburgh unmarried couples. 

The Victory Fund endorsed Bruce Kraus when he ran for Pittsburgh City Council in 2007 and is very proud of his push for a Pittsburgh domestic partner registry.   

“For her remarks Representative Kern received over 30,000 e-mails – most of them hateful, obscene and threatening.  One of those to respond was Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields who called Representative Sally Kern’s remarks ‘hateful, bigoted, and un-American’ and demanded an apology.   His remarks were much more hate-filled than hers were.  What is his response now looking back on the first six months’ activity of the new Pittsburgh City Council?” questioned Gramley.

What will be the next step – requiring all businesses which have contracts with the City of Pittsburgh to offer domestic partner benefits to all who have registered in the ‘mutual commitment registry’?  The City Council continues to insult married couples and all those who hold traditional values when they say the registry is required for the city to be competitive and to be able to bring in ‘cutting-edge people.’