Same-sex couples shunned by home zoning ordinance

With the proposal of a new student home zoning ordinance under fire from members of the Undergraduate Student Government, the question of how the ordinance will affect same-sex couples has arisen.

The ordinance would redefine a student home as a house with no more than three unrelated people living there, and a married couple would make the home a one-family unit. Pennsylvania currently does not recognize same-sex marriages.

"(Gay couples) would be considered two people," Tom Daubert, State College Borough Council president said. "At the moment, by state law, there's nothing that allows (same-sex marriages) in Pennsylvania at this time, so I don't know how we'd have to do that. Some of the states that have same-sex marriages have also some sort of forms they can fill out, but I don't think Pennsylvania has that."

"There are some municipalities, like San Francisco, that allow same-sex partner registration," said Dale Masel, co-director of the Coalition of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Graduate Students. "There are some government agencies that allow benefits to the partner in their same-sex relationships, but there's no way to get all of the benefits."

Although USG Women's Affairs Director Karolyn Hicks doesn't think that the student home zoning ordinance is a "big deal," she said it is a form of discrimination.

"I don't really think it's a major loss," Hicks said. "It is a form of discrimination, but I don't know of too many couples who would want to live together with other couples. But it is a form of discrimination, in my opinion."

Masel also sees it as discrimination. He fears it would threaten the fair housing ordinance, which does not allow discrimination based upon marital status or sexual orientation.

"But I'm sure that there's a chance that you're going to find people who are in gay or lesbian relationships who aren't going to live where they want to," Masel said. "Even if you've got one couple that ends up suffering, I think it's unfair for the borough."

"I don't even understand the reasoning behind all these limitations," she added. "I think it's absurd that 20 or so unrelated men can live in a (fraternity) house, and this won't affect them, but five or six gay students can't live in a house."

Fraternities are "grandfathered" by the borough, which allows more than three unrelated students in a dwelling if it was occupied before the ordinance was enacted.

"This would affect me first as a student, and then as a lesbian," Hicks said. "I know that people are talking a lot about this, but I really don't think it's that huge of a concern. It shouldn't be a problem."