When Ted Martin ’87 came to Dickinson on Sept. 4 to petition for LGBTQ legal protections, he was not just advocating for a cause – he was returning to the place where his advocacy career was born.

Martin is the chair of Equality Pennsylvania, a statewide organization working to pass The Pennsylvania Fairness Act in the state legislature. On Thursday, Sept. 3, Equality PA visited Dickinson’s campus to gather petition signatures in support of the bill.

The Pennsylvania Fairness Act (House Bill 1510 and Senate Bill 974) is an amendment to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act of 1955, which was established to prohibit the discrimination of citizens because of their “race, color, religious creed, ancestry, age or national origin.” The bill would amend the language of the 1955 act to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity or expression.

Martin was optimistic about the bill’s passage. He “will look on the positive side in that there is greater support from both parties,” he said. Though he added, “it should have been passed 10 years ago, quite frankly.”

Martin has been the chair of Equality PA since 2010. He graduated from Dickinson with a degree in Political Science and served as Student Senate President, an experience he said was crucial in his long advocacy career.

“The experience probably prepared me to think on my feet,” he said. “Dickinson gave me the ability to test drive it before it became official.”

Martin added that, “Dickinson was a very different place [when] I was there from 1983 to 1987. [The College] reflected what was going on in the country at that time. It was the middle of the AIDS crises, and that was when it was the most public and fierce.”

Martin remembers activism that took place when he was a student, citing an event organized to support LGBTQ students.

“You were supposed to wear jeans for the day. I remember it was shocking – I don’t know how successful of a protest or statement it was but it got people talking.” Martin said that his current activism with Equality PA is his way of leaving a meaningful legacy in his community.

“You’re not here for a long time and it’s your responsibility to leave the world better,” he stated.

This type of thinking was common among the volunteers at Dickinson’s event.

“[Equality] has to happen for everyone,” volunteer Salome Johnson said. “It’s about fairness, justice, simple human rights.”

Volunteer Richard Shoemaker’s mission was simple: “to get rid of this kind of discrimination.”

“[I’m] not doing it for me, but for your generation and generations to come,” he said.

Shoemaker, who was active in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, collected roughly 20 signatures only one hour into the event. Like other volunteers, he was hopeful about change.

Martin and Shoemaker offered advice for those who want to help see the bill pass. “I think [voters] better pay attention,” Martin said. “Words matter. Much of the positive movement forward can absolutely be erased. And they need to ask hard direct questions of candidates. Very specific questions.”

“There’s still a lot to be done,” Shoemaker said. “If you agree, you should contact your Representatives in the House and tell them the bill needs to be passed.”

Most Pennsylvanians do not know that it is legal within the state to fire or evict someone because they are gay or transgender. In a 2015 study conducted by The Tarrance Group, 73 percent of voters were unaware that those actions were legal.

In the same study, 78 percent of voters indicated they were in favor of updating Pennsylvania’s non-discrimination law “to protect [citizens] from being fired from their job based on sexual orientation or gender identity.” The bill has bipartisan support in both the House and the Senate, though the volunteers anticipate difficulty from the House.