Arlen Specter is No Joe Sestak When it Comes to LGBT Rights

by Michael Jones · 2009-09-24 08:46:00 UTC
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Joe Sestak

In one of the more talked about primaries of the 2010 election, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter is battling Rep. Joe Sestak for the Democratic nomination for one of PA's U.S. Senate seats.  Specter is a Republican-turned-Democrat who for the past 30 years has approached the issue of LGBT rights as if he were walking on egg shells. Sestak, on the other hand, is increasingly becoming a bull in a china shop for equality.

Rep. Sestak has become a leading advocate to overturn "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," and this week called on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to hold hearings on the Respect for Marriage Act -- the bill introduced this session of Congress to repeal the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Sestak said DOMA was discriminatory when it passed in 1996, and it's just as bad now.

"Since its passage in 1996, the Defense of Marriage Act has discriminated against LGBT Americans by excluding federal benefits from same-sex partners who have been legally married in states that recognize their marriage. As a result, married LGBT couples are not provided equal treatment under the law," said Sestak.

Specter meanwhile? He still thinks that DOMA is good policy, although he doesn't want to see a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. According to Open Left, Specter recently sent a letter to a constituent saying that he believes its premature to throw DOMA out, and supports traditional marriage.

Specter is listed as a supporter of hate crimes legislation that would expand federal protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity (although he's previously voted against this), and has supported the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the past and is a co-sponsor of the bill this year.

But at the same time, he's also sung the praises of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, two anti-LGBT jurists.

Specter deserves some praise, but equal rights aren't something to be achieved through moderation and issue tap-dancing. The bottom line? Sestak gets that. He'd likely be a much better and stronger advocate for LGBT rights in the U.S. Senate than Arlen Specter any day of the week, and twice on Tuesday. The difference are that clear.

(Photo of Rep. Joe Sestak courtesy of AFLCIO2008's photostream on Flickr.)

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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