U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey votes to advance bill banning workplace discrimination against gays

GOP senator breaks with majority of his party, but his support does not ensure his vote for final passage.

November 05, 2013|By Colby Itkowitz, Call Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey broke with the majority of his party Monday evening by voting to move forward with legislation that would ban workplace discrimination against gay employees.

In recent weeks, gay-rights groups have campaigned to procure Toomey's support for the bill. Activists who had met with his staff said the senator seemed to be deeply mulling it over. Until the vote, Toomey was undecided.

Then, during the vote, as the "yes" tally was frozen at 59 — it takes 60 votes to break a filibuster and clear that procedural hurdle — Toomey and Ohio GOP Sen. Rob Portman huddled just off the Senate floor with colleagues. The on-the-fence duo were implored to vote yes.

Finally, the two freshmen from border states walked onto the floor together. Portman officially cast the deciding 60th vote, and Toomey cast the 61st.

But Toomey's vote with Democrats, and just six fellow Republicans, to advance the bill does not ensure his vote for final passage later in the week. His support hinged on his being allowed to offer an amendment on religious freedoms.

"I have long believed that more legal protections are appropriate to prevent employment discrimination based on sexual orientation," Toomey said in a statement after the vote. "However, I also believe it should be improved, especially as it pertains to religious organizations.  We must strive to reach the appropriate balance between protecting workers and protecting religious freedom."

Toomey faces re-election in 2016, a presidential election year when Pennsylvania Democrats' voter registration edge makes it more challenging for Republicans to win statewide. So voting against a broadly supported nondiscrimination bill could have been political suicide.

The vote underscores a narrative Toomey is building ahead of his re-election campaign: He's bullish on economic issues but is softer on social issues like guns and gay rights.

"He's always weighing on issues like this the cost to his conservative stature while at the same time looking for ways to build a more moderate image ahead of 2016," said Chris Borick, Muhlenberg College political pollster. "And this is one of those test votes."

That divide has been evident in many key votes he's cast this year. He voted last month against a deal to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling, citing his requirement that there be more deficit reduction. That vote set off a firestorm of accusations from Democrats that he was the same old "Tea Party Toomey."

But also this year he was the public face of an effort to expand background checks for gun sales. And even when he voted against the immigration bill this summer, Toomey didn't cite opposition to granting amnesty for illegal immigrants (as so many of his GOP colleagues did). He said there should be more visas given to low-skilled workers — a cause championed by the business community but opposed by labor groups.

Gay-rights issues, including same-sex marriage, have public opinion on their side. During a recent speech, former GOP Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who signed the state's ban on gay marriage in 1996, urged his party to be more tolerant.

"Our own narrow thinking on social issues is one of the principal reasons we have lost the last two national elections," Ridge told a group of Log Cabin Republicans late last month.

Since his days as a congressman representing the Lehigh Valley and later his work as president of the anti-tax Club for Growth, Toomey has been driven by his fiscal conservatism, not social ideologies.

When running for the Senate in 2010 he expressed support for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell — the Clinton-era law that allowed gay soldiers to serve in the military but keep their sexuality secret. That gave equality advocates hope that he may be one Republican they could bring to their side on the workplace discrimination issue.

Congressman Matt Cartwright, a Democrat representing parts of Northampton County, and Brian Sims, an openly gay state representative from Philadelphia, wrote Toomey letters urging him to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA.

"Despite our political differences, I have always agreed with your steadfast commitment to job creation and increasing economic opportunities for the state," Sims wrote. "I also know you to be a man of respect and integrity and while I know that the fringe opposition to equality may be a difficult burden to bear at times, the citizens of Pennsylvania are clear in their overwhelming support for these types of basic, commonsense protections."

Pennsylvania is among the 33 states without a law making it illegal for workplaces to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, though many municipalities have such laws in place, including Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.

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