One of the positive facets in the change of gubernatorial administration is that our new leader is welcoming legislation which will serve to extend a welcome mat to gay men and women by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It is ironic that gay marriages are being performed in Pennsylvania, yet any employer may fire someone for being gay.

Standing in the way of fairness and equality in the same manner as former Alabama Gov. George Wallace sought to bar blacks from the same educational opportunities as whites has been longtime state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-Cranberry, who has used his position as chairman of the House State Government Committee to block any effort to establish equal rights and who was so contemptuous and fearful of the movement for equality that he would not permit an openly gay representative to speak on the grounds that it would offend Metcalfe’s “Christian sensibilities.”

I hope that just as Wallace was forced to back away from his platform of “segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever,” the power of more enlightened leaders will turn the tide in recognizing that gay men and women are just as worthy of the fruits of this country’s freedom as us heterosexuals. I am encouraged in having witnessed that tyranny and oppression will always fail eventually.

Thank you, Gov. Tom Wolf, for your enlightenment on this important issue. The state may be coming into the 21st century.