A House panel on Tuesday began moving legislation to make gay marriage legal under Pennsylvania law and add civil rights protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Pennsylvania had banned same-sex marriages under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, defining marriage as being a union between a man and woman. The state law was declared unconstitutional in 2014, a year before the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its 5-4 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, making gay marriage legal nationwide.

However, lawmakers say the state needs to act to ensure that the protections remain in place if courts reverse course, as the U.S. Supreme Court did in 2022.

A 2020 Supreme Court ruling also made it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. State law does not extend those protections to cover discrimination in housing, public accommodations or education though.

House Bill 1800 would delete the language in state law limiting marriage to weddings involving “one man and one woman” and create a new definition of marriage as “a civil union between two individuals.”

HB 1880 was approved by the House Judiciary Committee in a bipartisan 16-10 vote. Rep. Tim Bonner, R-Mercer, and Rep. Brenda Pugh, R-Luzerne, joined all Democrats on the committee in voting in favor of the bill.

The full House approved a marriage equality bill in July 2024 with more than 30 Republicans and all but one of the Democrats in the chamber voting in favor of the bill. Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, was the lone Democrat to vote against the measure.

The Judiciary Committee approved House Bill 300 adding civil rights protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity by a party line vote of 14-12.

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in 2023 updated its discrimination guidance to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In 2024, 70 of 547 claims of sex discrimination complaints filed with the commission related to cases involving discrimination over sexual orientation or gender identity. All but nine of those 70 cases involved complaints about discrimination in education.

Republicans on the committee argued that legislation could be used to force schools to allow transgender female athletes to play on female sports teams and access female locker rooms.

Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, the prime sponsor of both HB 1800 and HB 300, said opponents of the legislation were using a straw man argument to attack the bill.

Republicans countered that their criticism was informed by the way similar laws were implemented in other states.

The full House approved a similar bill in May 2023 by a 102-98 vote. Burns was the only Democrat to vote against the legislation, while two Republicans Rep. Alex Ryncavage, R-Luzerne, and former Rep. Aaron Kaufer, R-Luzerne, voted in favor of it. Kaufer did not run for re-election at the end of the 2023-24 legislative session. He was succeeded by Pugh.

HB 300 triggered some of the most contentious and prolonged debate during the meeting.

Rep. Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, said HB 300 would create unique challenges because it will allow people to claim discrimination based on how they self-identify themselves.

Both measures now go to the full House. If the Democrat-controlled chamber approves them, the bills go to the Republican-controlled Senate for consideration.