Scott Township commissioner faces backlash for comment about Pa. health secretary

A letter is being drafted by a group of Scott Township residents calling for the resignation of a township commissioner who made remarks about the state health secretary’s gender during a public meeting.

The comments were made during the June 9 meeting, held on Zoom, about reopening the municipal swimming pool as the county moves into the “green phase.”

During an exchange with another board member, Vice President Paul Abel said, “I tell you, I am tired of listening to a guy dressed up like a woman,” in reference to Dr. Rachel Levine, who is a transgender woman.

No other member of the board participating commented on Abel’s remark.

Commissioner Eileen Meyer said Friday that she regrets not speaking up.

“I just cringed when I heard it,” she said. “I was simply astonished. It happened at the end of the meeting and I regret not saying something at that time.”

Scott Township officials on Friday posted an apology letter on the municipality website and Facebook page that is signed by all board members.

There was no answer for the telephone number Abel provides on the township’s website.

Scott resident Carrie O’Connell said more than 100 residents pledged to sign the letter, and that the majority of petitioners want Abel to resign immediately. They also want the township to require public officials to attend diversity training classes.

“The overwhelming response from people I’ve been in contact with is that they want him to resign immediately because he cannot effectively move forward,” she said. “People feel they cannot trust him because, if he feels that way about one marginalized population, imagine how he feels about others.”

O’Connell said she heard Abel’s comments and “could not believe that someone who is a leader in a professional capacity would make such a hateful statement.”

O’Connell, who is receiving technical assistance with the petition drive from the LGBTQ advocacy group Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, said the context in which Abel’s comment was made is troubling.

“If he was at home or at a private gathering around friends and family, well, people believe and say all sorts of things,” O’Connell said. “But for the vice president of the board to make that comment in a public meeting is just unreal to me. It is sad.”

Township Manager Denise Fitzgerald said Friday that she already has begun exploring training programs on cultural diversity for municipal employees and officials well as developing a mission statement on inclusiveness and diversity for the municipality.