Pittsburgh Transphobia
Township commissioner resigns after
mocking state health commissioner
Dr. Rachel Levine, Pennsylvania’s health secretary.
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
The vice president of a
township Board of Commissioners
near Pittsburgh
has resigned in
the wake of the outcry resulting
from his bigoted attack on Dr. Rachel
Levine, Pennsylvania’s secretary
of health.
During a June 10 Zoom meeting
of the Scott Township Board
of Commissioners, Paul G. Abel
voiced impatience about the pace
at which the state was allowing
the local area to reopen after mandated
coronavirus restrictions.
“Well, I’ll tell ya, I am tired of
listening to a guy dressed up like
a woman,” Abel said. “I know how
frustrated people are.”
As the state health commissioner,
Levine has often served as
the public face of the coronavirus
policies of Democratic Governor
Tom Wolf. When she assumed her
post in 2017, she became one of the
highest ranking out transgender
public offi cials in the nation.
Video of that statement quickly
spread on social media, and by
June 16 a petition signed by hundreds
of local residents was delivered
to the township manager’s offi
ce demanding Abel’s resignation.
POLITICS
REUTERS/ DANIEL SHANKEN
The petition, initiated by three
Scott Township residents according
to pghcitypaer.com, also called
on the Board of Commissioners
and other township offi cials to
participate in diversity training
regarding the LGBTQ community
and for the passage of a local nondiscrimination
ordinance.
On June 17, Abel threw in the
towel. Though his letter of resignation
expressed “regret” for his
“insensitive” comment, he claimed
he was being “sarcastic” and that
his words were “not an attack on
gender identity and there was no
hatred or malice behind” them.
Noting his 50 years of experience
as a marine and a Scott Township
police offi cer, Abel said he would
“hang in there” on the Board of
Commissioners except that some
of his critics had come to his home
and “I cannot stand by and have
my family subject to that type of
anger and harassment.”
So in his non-apology apology,
Abel steered the discussion away
from the harassment he committed
to harassment he claimed he
was the victim of. Neat trick.
The citizens’ petition that called
for Abel’s resignation also noted
➤ PITTSBURGH, continued on p.69
HAPPY
PRIDE
MONTH!
Thank you to all those who
came before in the fight for equality,
and happy to celebrate with
New York’s LGBTQ+ this June
— JOE LENTOL
Our Assemblyman
Paid for by Citizens for Lentol
GayCityNews.com | June 25- July 15, 2020 43
/pghcitypaer.com
/GayCityNews.com
