McClinton Celebrates Senate Passage of Landmark CROWN Act
Soon PA will join more than two dozen states in outlawing hair discrimination.
Rep. Joanna E. McClinton November 20, 2025 | 3:02 PM
HARRISBURG, Nov. 20 – Speaker of the PA House Joanna McClinton, D-Phila./Delaware, is celebrating the state Senate’s passage of the CROWN Act, a landmark piece of anti-discrimination legislation that she has championed since 2019.
“Like many Black women, I have felt pressured to wear my hair a certain way to meet someone else’s expectations,” said McClinton. “It isn’t fair, and it isn’t right. Now, when the CROWN Act becomes law, hair discrimination will be against the law in Pennsylvania.”
The bill, which amends the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to prohibit discrimination based on a person's hair type, hair texture, or hairstyle, now awaits Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature.
The bill’s other lead sponsor, state Rep. La’Tasha D. Mayes, D-Allegheny, said, “The CROWN Act has been a longtime fight toward the overall goal of ending this insidious discrimination in our commonwealth that has impacted the lives and livelihoods of students, workers, and Pennsylvania residents simply because of how their hair grows out of their head.”
Passing the CROWN Act has become a movement across the country. More than two dozen states — including Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee — as well as cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, have already enacted the law. To build support in Pennsylvania, the lawmakers established the “PA CROWN Act Coalition” to empower residents, businesses, and organizations to advocate for the bill, mirroring a national campaign launched by Dr. Adjoa Asamoah.
“For nearly eight consecutive years, I have worked tirelessly with leaders across the country to change laws as well as culture, and mitigate the psychological, economic, and physical harm caused by race-based hair discrimination,” said Asamoah. “Grooming policies that reinforce Eurocentric standards of beauty and professionalism perpetuate exclusion and racial inequity.
“I am so grateful to have Madam Speaker Joanna McClinton and Representative La’Tasha Mayes as partners in this work, and I applaud their leadership.”
McClinton first introduced the CROWN Act in 2019 with then–state Rep. — now Congresswoman — Summer Lee, D-Allegheny, but it failed to gain traction in the Republican-led House over multiple legislative sessions. However, McClinton and the PA CROWN Act Coalition continued marshaling support for the measure. This hard work paid off when Democrats won control of the state House in 2023, and as the newly sworn-in speaker, McClinton steered the bill through the chamber, where it received overwhelming bipartisan support (182–21). While a crucial development, the legislation ultimately failed to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate.
McClinton and Mayes reintroduced the bill this session, and it cleared the state House in March by a vote of 194–8. After unwavering advocacy by McClinton, the state Senate approved the bill earlier this week by a margin of 44–3.
“This is a victory for everyone who joined our movement for a more equitable commonwealth where everyone is respected, treated with dignity, and can be their authentic self,” McClinton said. “It is a victory for anyone who has felt out of place, unwelcome or discriminated against because of their hair style or texture. Now we can wear our crowns with pride, and our children will grow up in a much better Pennsylvania.”