This is very cool:

HARRISBURG -- A bill that would amend the state constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage is in a deep coma and is probably dead, at least for the rest of this session.

Faced with staunch opposition to the measure in the Democrat-controlled House, the main sponsor, Sen. Michael Brubaker, R-Lancaster, asked the Senate last evening to table the bill indefinitely, and it agreed.

.....

But Mr. Brubaker said last evening he'd learned the bill, if it did get through the Senate, would be sent to the House State Government Committee, where it likely wouldn't be acted on anytime soon. That panel is chaired by Rep. Babette Josephs, D-Philadelphia, who strongly opposed putting a ban on same-sex marriage into the constitution. Democrats control the House by a slim margin of 102-101.

In other words, Rep. Josephs just did what no Democrat in the Senate could do: Stop awful, ridiculous and bigoted legislation from even coming to a vote. Very, very cool.

Elections have consequences, and this vote shows how important it is that Democrats keep- and build- on their 1 vote majority in the House.

Kudos to Rep. Josephs for standing up for common sense and basic humanity.

PHILADELPHIA, March 12 – State Rep. Babette Josephs, chairwoman of the House State Government Committee, said the committee will hold two public hearings in Philadelphia this week.

The first hearing, on legislation to change the redistricting process (H.B.s 81, 84 and 2047), will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, March 13 in the Irvine Auditorium of the University of Pennsylvania.

The agenda will be as follows:
10 a.m. -- Rep. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery
10:20 a.m. -- Rep. Steve Samuelson, D-Northampton/Lehigh
10:40 a.m. -- Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Phila.
11 a.m. -- Kenneth Myers, vice president, Jewish Social Policy Action Network
11:20 a.m. -- Sara Steelman, chairwoman, Common Cause, Pennsylvania
11:40 a.m. -- Andrea Mulrine, president, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania
Noon -- Nathaniel Persily, law professor, Columbia Law School
12:20 p.m. -- Dennis Baylor, Pennsylvania Accountability Project.