Tag Archives: Brian Sims

“Almost four decades of science and medicine that says if you are LGBTQ, just like me, that there is nothing wrong with you, that you are not broken, you don’t need to be fixed and you don’t need to have a diagnosis, and that being LGBT, like so many other characteristics in your life, some days will be a blessing …

In an interview with popular vlogger Byran Leffew, Sims talks about being Pennsylvania’s first-ever openly gay state legislator and his recent dust-up with anti-gay Rep. Daryl Metlcalf.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims writes: The time has come for our Pennsylvania Human Relations Act to include a basic level of protection for members of the LGBT community in Pennsylvania. That’s why I’ve not only co-sponsored House Bill 300 this legislative session, but am also working hard with Prime Sponsors Rep. Dan Frankel and Rep. Chris Ross to build …

As Pennsylvania’s marriage battle continues to heat up, Commonwealth Equality is inviting its Facebook followers to submit photos like the one above posted by openly gay state Rep. Brian Sims and state Rep. Steve McCarter of Montgomery County, which continues to defy the governor and issue marriage licenses.

Openly gay state Rep. Brian Sims appeared on Hardball last night to discuss being told he couldn’t discuss gay marriage on his chamber’s floor because he is in “open rebellion to God.”

(Via JMG reader Demian)

Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims today announced his plan to introduce a same-sex marriage bill. “About two hours ago, I shopped around a co-sponsorship memo for a marriage bill, and I’m going to introduce an LGBT marriage equality bill,” he says, adding the Supreme Court cases “helped light the fire under my colleagues to do it now.” The …

Over one hundred Pennsylvania legislators have cosponsored bills that will extend housing and workplace anti-discrimination protections to LGBT citizens. The bills have 77 sponsors in the House and 25 in the Senate. The bills will end the last vestige of legal discrimination in Pennsylvania, “discrimination based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity or expression,” said Rep. Dan Frankel, …

“If you didn’t already know that Sims was the first openly gay member elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly, in 2012, you might have guessed it from that remark. After all, shouldn’t it be the straight males in the Pennsylvania House, who care most about women’s reproductive health? But no: Those men helped pass House Bill 818, which would ban …

Brian Sims: “As a reminder, Mr. Speaker, I do believe this has been forgotten entirely by many of my colleagues today: Each of us put our hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. We did not place our hands on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible.”  The bill passed: Pennsylvania’s state House of Representatives voted …

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who campaigned as a conservative Democrat, has endorsed marriage equality. “After much deliberation and after reviewing the legal, public policy and civil-rights questions presented, I support marriage equality for same-sex couples and believe that DOMA should be repealed,” Casey said in a statement exclusively first released to Philadelphia Gay News on Monday afternoon. Casey previously backed …

“So if on President’s Day we honor former Presidents, and on MLK Day we honor Dr. King, on April Fools Day are we honoring the Westboro Baptist Church and the Family Research Council?!?” – Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims, writing on his Facebook page.  We can think of many more fools to add to Sims’ list today.

Last night openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims appeared on MSNBC’s Hardball to talk about the “rapid rise of LGBT civil rights.” He did a great job.  Chris Matthews: “Maybe you’ll be governor some day.”

“The truth is I was gay my whole life. I had dated girls in high school. I think I knew I wasn’t straight long before I knew I was gay. I knew by the time I got to college that I was gay. My team actually came to me to ask me whether I was gay. They wanted to talk …

Openly gay Pennsylvania state Rep. Brian Sims was only sworn in a couple of weeks ago and he’s hit the ground running by helping to build a large bipartisan coalition behind an anti-bullying bill that he promises will be stronger than “toothless bills” in other states. There are now 67 co-sponsors of the bill, including several Republicans. Philly Now reports …

Yesterday Brian Sims was sworn in as the first openly gay person elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature. Brian Sims, 34, ran unopposed in the November election after ousting longtime Rep. Babette Josephs in the Democratic primary in the Center City district.  “The tide has changed,” said Sims, a civil rights advocate who recently stepped down as board president of …