Ricky Lloyd Brooks needs a driver’s license. It’s their only ticket to securing a better-paying job as they work their way through college. But the 27-year-old first must obtain a permit, which requires a physical exam. 

On the paperwork, Brooks indicated their gender identity as nonbinary and completed a sexual health screening. The doctor then tried to avoid signing off on it, citing Brooks’s high blood pressure as a factor. Brooks insisted, but after filing it with the Department of Transportation, they were informed it had not been properly filled out. 

Brooks, who lives in a Pittsburgh suburb, described to LGBTQ Nation what it felt like to debate in their head whether to ask about the gender marker during that appointment. What if they did, and the doctor responded by failing them on the physical? What if they didn’t, and the doctor marked an incorrect gender identity for their license?

Brooks was in college full-time, working part-time, serving on the Democratic Committee for their borough, and juggling family responsibilities. The 27-year-old is considered a community leader in their municipality and among LGBTQ+ college students. Finding time for another physical would be next to impossible. Besides, there was no way to be certain that the next doctor wouldn’t do the same thing or worse. At the same time, an inaccurate driver’s permit or license would not only be traumatizing but possibly dangerous if their gender presentation did not reflect the marker. 

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 “Most people don’t have to worry about these issues,” Brooks said. “So it is hard for them to understand how a doctor’s appointment can affect my ability to get a good job.” 

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A month later, Brooks returned to another doctor in the practice to repeat the physical and was told that high blood pressure was not a valid reason to deny someone a permit. 

For LGBTQ+ people living in the purple state of Pennsylvania, anti-LGBTQ+ bias and discrimination add a layer of concern to the issues already facing most Americans. Like everywhere, voters are worried about issues like the economy that impact their daily lives. But LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians have additional anxieties and obstacles to contend with.

For one, bigotry is still legal in 70% of Pennsylvania. 

A patchwork of non-discrimination laws aren’t enough for queer Pennsylvanians

Pennsylvania is unique in the Northeast as the only state without a statewide non-discrimination law protecting LGBTQ+ people. Approximately one-third of the state’s LGBTQ+ residents are protected by local ordinances. Other protections flow down from the federal administrative actions — a patchwork quilt of stop-gap measures that sows confusion and uncertainty. 

Pennsylvania’s General Assembly passed its only statewide LGBTQ+-affirming legislation in May 2024 when it banned conversion therapy for minors. It has yet to repeal the state’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which remains a dormant threat on Pennsylvania’s books, especially in the wake of the dismantling of Roe v Wade and the knowledge that same-sex marriage could be next on the conservative Supreme Court’s chopping block. 

What’s more, there are no statewide hate crimes protections in Pennsylvania and no laws about parentage or second-parent adoption. Every right LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians have come through the federal government, local governments, or court rulings. These are slippery, tenuous safety nets that are hard to understand and harder to navigate. 

Republicans control the Pennsylvania Senate, and the State House has a razor-thin Democratic majority. But that is all subject to change. Every single state House seat, along with a third of the Senate seats, is on the ballot on November 5th. Statewide offices facing tight races include the Attorney General, Auditor General, and State Treasurer. 

These races are critical to determining the future of Pennsylvania’s LGBTQ+ residents. 

Brooks’s story is about healthcare competency and fairness but is very much an economic issue. They are a hardworking Gen Z Pennsylvanian who has the right to try to pull themselves further ahead. 

As such, Pennsylvania’s role as a battleground state extends beyond the presidential election: the local races will deeply affect the day-to-day lives of LGBTQ+ people across the Commonwealth. Community leaders like Brooks repeatedly emphasize the need to turn out for downticket candidates and are working to help voters understand the strong connection between state-level representatives and their rights.

But they also acknowledge it will take a lot more than one election to bring real change. 

Local races and a town caught in political spin

Chauntey Wilson, 45, supports Kamala Harris and other Democratic candidates. A Black trans woman, she founded the Pittsburgh-based nonprofit The Love Diamond Project and serves on the City of Pittsburgh LGBTQIA+ Commission. She believes most Pennsylvanians are supportive of equal rights for trans people as long as they don’t have to take an active or visible role in fighting for them. 

Wilson connects that hesitation to the anti-trans political climate, understanding that people don’t want to be a target. 

“We get mad when people don’t speak up, but don’t stop to think why they are afraid to do so,” Wilson told LGBTQ Nation.

As such, she does not have faith that this election will actually change much for the trans community but still emphasizes the necessity of voting and the importance of downticket campaigns, like that of out candidate Malcolm Kenyatta for Auditor General. 

The Auditor General has the authority to assess state and federal contracts in more than 500 school districts in Pennsylvania. That puts them on the frontline of everything from Title IX compliance to book bans and statewide athletics rules. They aren’t a czar but can contribute to public transparency to protect students.

“It is a key race,”  Nathanial Yap, Vice Chair of Pittsburgh’s 7th Ward Democratic Committee, told LGBTQ Nation. Yap, a stalwart figure in campaign politics, is an out gay Asian-American man with a multiracial queer family of his own. “Most people don’t know what the Auditor General does, so the Democratic candidate, Malcolm Kenyatta, has been traveling to every county in Pennsylvania to educate and inform them as well as listen to their concerns.”

Kenyatta would be the first out gay Black man to hold statewide office. He’s from Philadelphia, which he represented in the Pennsylvania house for multiple terms as the first out gay Black man. To many voters in the rural counties he visits, Kenyatta is the candidate taking time to hear them and communicate how he could address their concerns if elected.

LGBTQ+ equality is far from the only issue on the ballot that will affect LGBTQ+ Pennsylvanians. 

Charleroi, a small town in rural Westmoreland County, has welcomed Haitians, other immigrants, and refugees through legal entry programs to address worker shortages. As Donald Trump fuels anti-immigrant sentiment, the region’s largest employer, Corelle, announced a complete shutdown, with nearly 300 jobs lost.

Corelle is dismantling an industrial presence dating back to 1893 — a devastating blow that some have spun into attacks on the immigrant community as the root cause of the region’s economic hardship, then twisting their contributions into a terrifying illegal invasion ruining the community. 

In mid-October, Trinity White Knights (a branch of the Klu Klux Klan)  distributed a digital flyer on Facebook, The Guardian reported, that read: “Do not let the government destroy your town. These 3rd world immigrants are destroying every single city they arrive in.” 

Last month, Donald Trump wrongfully claimed Charleroi was “virtually bankrupt” and experiencing “massive crime” due to the presence of immigrants in an attempt to turn immigration into his keystone election platform. 

Even as the United Steelworkers union fights the closure, it is unclear if people are connecting the dots between the corporate decisions to close a source of good jobs and the rhetoric falsely assigning blame to Haitian residents. Some Charleroi residents have pushed back against the anti-immigrant vitriol, as shown in a video clip that has amassed over 3.1 million views. 

Watch these Charleroi, PA locals clown a California right-winger trying to stir up anti-immigrant racism about their town:

“You need to go back where you came from. You don’t need to be in Charleroi. These poor Haitian people making money and working hard.” – older white woman pic.twitter.com/Ea9o6AGTem

— J.J. Abbott

Source: LGBTQ Nation