For Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, some issues are too important to rely on the General Assembly to take action.

Wolf bypassed the legislature last week, and signed two anti-discrimination executive orders into law. The executive orders mainly prevent state contractors from denying people jobs because they are from the LGBTQ community. It also gives the Department of General Services the authority to enforce the orders.

The issue sprung into the national spotlight over the weekend because Wolf’s actions were partly meant to blast North Carolina and Georgia for failing to support people of the LGBTQ community. North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation in March that bars the state’s local governments from passing some anti-discrimination ordinances, according to Time Magazine. This includes how people from the LGBTQ community can use public accommodations, such as restrooms.

“What happened in North Carolina, and what is going on in other states, should be a call to pass non-discrimination legislation in Pennsylvania now,” the governor’s office said in a statement.

Early last week, Mississippi passed a law that allows businesses to refuse services to gay couples based on the business owner’s religious beliefs, the Washington Post reported. The array of southern laws passed in the last few months that target people from the LGBTQ community is an eerie flashback to Jim Crow laws and a segregated south.

Such laws often seem to infringe on the civil rights acts of the 1960s, but their specific wording usually does not include concepts like gender identity and sexual orientation. While Pennsylvania is trying to make its mark as an inclusive and non-discriminatory state, much of the nation is still fighting to hold onto archaic and dying traditions.

Being a minority is one thing, but being targeted for being a minority is another. Imagine what it would be like to be a LGBTQ student at Shippensburg University. Even in a relatively accepting place like SU, you still may find it hard to tell people your true identity or your real feelings about how discrimination affects your life and many others. Now imagine living in a state where if you gave any hint your sexual orientation or gender identity was not the same as most people’s, that you might not get a job, or you cannot use a restroom that matches your gender identity.

Wolf made sure that Pennsylvania would not be one of those states. But without a national law — a new civil rights act — countless thousands of people will be left in the shadows.

“We must show that Pennsylvania is the place that William Penn envisioned when he founded our commonwealth on the principle that it is open, diverse and inclusive for all people,” Wolf said, asking the General Assembly to take action. But the governor’s office said the Pennsylvania Fairness Act, which is akin to the new executive orders, is at a standstill in the legislature.

If a comprehensive national anti-discrimination law ever made it to the floor of Congress, many congressmen and women would sooner cause gridlock than put it up for a vote. What would the sitting president do in that situation?

If it was President Barack Obama, it is quite possible he would follow Wolf’s lead and use executive orders to pass it. Circumventing the legislative branch, however, draws criticism from both sides of the aisle, but it is ultimately up to the courts to decide its legality.

The question still remains, was Wolf allowed to use executive orders to get anti-discrimination laws passed? Though many Pennsylvanians, including SU students, may think such laws should unquestionably be established, there are consequences with how they are passed.

If executive orders are legal under these circumstances, what will people say if a future Pennsylvania governor uses his executive powers to reverse anti-discrimination laws that were never voted upon?

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