PA News Roundup
Lots and lotsa news!!
h/t LinkedIn
PLEASE continue to request constituent meetings with US Senators Fetterman and McCormick and you US House rep during May 18-21, 2026. Background for these meetings is here and here.
PA News
General Assembly
PA Rep Ismail Wade-Smith-El, D-49, introduced a Memo that states:
I plan to introduce the Protection of Minors from Conversion Therapy Act to address harms associated with conversion therapy by prohibiting a mental health professional from engaging in this archaic treatment with an individual under the age of 18.
In his Memo, Rep Wade-Smith-El claims “This therapy often consists of talk therapy, abusive physical treatments such as electric shock and induced vomiting, and emotionally abusive tactics.” Talk therapy is simply real psychotherapy. Apparently exploring why a minor questions or rejects her/his sex is unacceptable; only unconditional “affirmation” is what Rep Wade-Smith-El wants to mandate. The latter four practices are tortures only inflicted by religious fundamentalists. No ethical psychotherapist would ever do these things today, although they have in the past. Once again, TQ++++ are force-teaming themselves with actual LGB rights.
The timing of this Memo so soon after SCOTUS ruling on Colorado’s “conversion therapy” ban is probably not a coincidence.
PA SB 9, the Save Women’s Sports Act, is now in the PA House Children & Youth Committee. On March 25, 2026:
The minority chair [Rep Katie Klunk, R-169] made a motion to consider SB 9. The majority chair ruled that the bill is not on the agenda. The minority chair made a motion to appeal the ruling of the chair.
Rep Klunk’s motion passed 14-8. Maybe now this bipartisan bill that already passed the PA Senate will finally make it to the PA House floor for a vote.
PA4SBR will continue to monitor Memoranda and legislation in the General Assembly.
General PA News
What the Supreme Court’s ruling on Colorado’s conversion therapy ban could mean for Pa. and N.J. (See Rep Wade-Smith-El’s Memo above.)
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration announced it was banning minor conversion therapy. Pennsylvania’s law was enacted by regulation, while the majority of other states with bans in place were put in place by legislation.
Westmoreland County LGBTQ+ proclamation request rejected again by commissioners
Pa. lawmakers announce caucus to fight human trafficking
Which Pa. counties had the most discrimination claim investigations? (May be paywalled)
Allegheny led all counties with 174 claims filed between July 2024 and June 2025. Philadelphia, Dauphin and Montgomery counties were second through fourth respectively.
Dauphin County, however, had the most claims filed per capita. Dauphin had 55.2 claims filed for every 10,000 residents in that county.
Federal judge shuts door on Justice Department effort to wrest transgender care data from UPMC
“Its rhetoric regarding gender-affirming care [sic] reflects callous indifference, if not abject cruelty,” Chief U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon of the Western District of Pennsylvania wrote of the Justice Department. “There is more than a ‘whiff’ of ill-intent. Arguably, it is closer to a stench.”
One of first female officials cites Steelers training camp incident in sweeping lawsuit against NFL
Education
New grants will let Pittsburgh universities increase sexual assault education, trainings
Focus groups to engage male students will also be a big part of Pitt’s grant. [FINALLY!]
Campbell said male-identifying students [???] often don’t feel comfortable in prevention spaces. The focus groups will help the office figure out how to get male students to feel “called in” to prevention work, rather than called out. [Let’s not hurt the poor fragile males!]
Berwick School District adopts trans name, bathroom policy
Pine-Richland school board takes steps to reverse controversial library policy
Pride flags at Upper Perkiomen Middle School have sparked debate about ‘political messaging’
Public schools should focus on education, “not personal beliefs, ideological messaging, or the promotion of sexual orientation,” the group said in a message circulated in March.
Misc Trans News
‘Everyone’s wearing Barb this season’. How one Atlantic City woman’s costume jewelry collection wound up adorning Philly’s drag queens.
The day after Barb’s funeral in November 2024, Weinberger texted Jarbeaux, aka Rose Jarboe — the creator of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret and one of Philadelphia’s leading nightlife performers.
…
“Jewelry is armor, and queer and trans people need a lot of armor right now,” she said. “I don’t know what Barb was protecting with her mounds of things, but she had plenty of armor to share.”
Trans youth rally at Pa. Capitol: ‘The system will not save us’
Philadelphia opens new LGBTQ+ visitor center, one of few in country
Trans teens in Pittsburgh scramble to access care months after options were largely cut off
Drop-in center opens in Downtown to support trans Pittsburghers
On Smithfield Street in Downtown Tuesday evening, about 60 people gathered for the opening of the Stonewall Inn, a new drop-in center for transgender Pittsburghers that will offer laundry services, showers, free food and clothes and mental health services.
There’s nothing wrong with people helping people. Once again, however, the TQ+++ have appropriated an LGB icon…
Not All Men — A Few of Many, Many Links
Man charged with groping woman wearing Easter Bunny costume at Pa. mall
Man ‘terrorized’ ex-girlfriend in Crafton, now headed to trial
Pa. amusement park hired man with sex assault history who befriended girl, raped her
Bucks County man accused of targeting women, underage girls in nationwide sextortion
Gettysburg ex-mayor’s arrest in child sex case hinders organizations he founded
Carr was the founding executive artistic director of the Gettysburg Community Theatre starting in 2009, as well as the co-founder of Gettysburg Pride in 2017.
And in both cases, the volunteers with the organizations have found that Carr’s role was not just central, but all-encompassing.
Family Court judge charged with assaulting his wife and daughter is suspended without pay
The Pennsylvania Court of Judicial Discipline on Thursday suspended a Philadelphia judge without pay after he was charged this week with repeatedly punching his wife, choking her, and assaulting his adult daughter.
The order follows a Wednesday petition in which the state’s Judicial Conduct Board asked that Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Fanning, 60, be removed from the bench until the criminal case against him is resolved.
The suspension is effective immediately.
DNA evidence links Harrisburg man to 3rd child rape
He’s been jailed since December 2024, when police charged him in connection with the abduction of a 12-year-old girl walking home from school who said he raped her at his uptown Harrisburg home. He didn’t know the girl, police said, and had been following her while wearing a mask and all-black clothing.
Finley was also charged on March 23 after police say he used a fake photo on Snapchat to lure a 13 or 14-year-old girl to his house, where he raped her, the affidavit said. She’s now 15.
Whitehall man pleads guilty to stalking 11 women online, in person
“Dadig has referenced strangling people with his bare hands, called himself ‘God’s assassin,’ stated that women who ‘(mess)’ with him are ‘going to (expletive) hell,’ and declared on his podcast that he is nice until he is pushed to the breaking point, at which point he will ‘stop at absolutely nothing to bury you into the (expletive) ground,’” according to the criminal complaint.
Ocean County College dean charged with sex assault of minor, prosecutors say
Good work PA4SBR!! Very informative newsletter!! Well done👍