Gay Council Candidate Reacts to Supreme Court Ruling

Hatboro resident Andrea Myers likens the federal government’s recognition of same-sex marriage to a passport or a driver’s license that’s only issued in 13 states. 

Myers, a Democrat vying for a seat on the Hatboro Borough Council, said that while Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, the law barring the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, was “definitely a step in the right direction,” the decision was “not as far-reaching” as she had hoped.

Instead of opting to “legalize nationally the gay marriage question,” Myers was disappointed that the Supreme Court chose to send it back to individual states. Same-sex marriage is not recognized in Pennsylvania.

“Pennsylvania itself has a few steps to go,” said Myers, who is gay.

She said the state also lacks hate crime and discrimination laws. 

A local activist, Myers is no stranger to working to expand the rights of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community. While her mother, Nancy Guenst, served on the Hatboro Borough Council in 2010, Myers helped spearhead the creation of an anti-discrimination ordinance, which Mayor Norm Hawkes ultimately vetoed. Hawkes, also a Democrat, had said anti-discrimination laws should be left to the state to legislate. 

And while same-sex couples wait for Pennsylvania–and three dozen other states–to permit gay marriage, Myers said people are taking steps to ensure that the union is recognized.

“Someone from Pennsylvania could go to New York and that marriage would be recognized federally,” she said.

And Myers isn’t speaking rhetorically. She attended a same-sex wedding recently for a New Jersey couple that exchanged vows in New York in order to have access to each other’s insurance and to have the union federally recognized.

While Myers said she “would really like to wait” for her home state to legalize same-sex marriage, she understands why others are not as patient.

“You can only wait for so much,” Myers said. “As a couple you have to make sure your property and your interests are protected.”