Tag: Pennsylvania

Posted on

First elected out gay member of Pennsylvania legislature sworn in

Brian Sims made history on Tuesday when he took office as the first person elected to the Pennsylvania legislature as an out LGBT person. He joins Rep. Mike Fleck, who announced after his re-election that he was gay.

From Newsle.com:

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 Equality Pennsylvania, the statewide lesbian and gay advocacy organization. “2012 will go down in history as when being anti-gay puts you in the minority.”

Posted on

Pennsylvania: GOP State Rep. Mike Fleck comes out

Pennslyvania Republican State Rep. Mike Fleck comes out

Pennsylvania state Rep. Mike Fleck came out yesterday, one year after separating from his wife. Fleck now becomes the nation’s only openly gay Republican state legislator. Via Politics PA:

In a deeply personal story by the Huntingdon Daily News (subscription), Fleck, a devout Christian, explained the difficult road to his announcement. “Coming out is hard enough, but doing it in the public eye is definitely something I never anticipated,” he said. “I’m still the exact same person and I’m still a Republican and, most importantly, I’m still a person of faith trying to live life as a servant of God and the public. The only difference now is that I will also be doing so as honestly as I know how.”

He said his party affiliation remains strong. “The Republican party is all about the government needing to stay out of people’s lives,” Fleck said. “I’m not a one-issue person and it’s not a one-issue party.” Fleck, 39, has a resume that would impress Republicans anywhere. An Eagle Scout by age 18, he graduated from Liberty University in 1995 and worked professionally for the Boy Scouts of America as a district executive in Huntingdon County from 1999 to 2004.

Fleck also said that he tried religious therapy to rid himself of same-sex desires, but to no avail. “I sought out treatment from a Christian counselor, but when that didn’t work out, I engaged a secular therapist who told me point blank that I was gay and that I was too caught up in being the perfect Christian rather than actually being authentic and honest,” he said.

As for his ex-wife, Fleck said she remains his best-friend. “My wife and I became closer than ever [after I came out to her], but it was bittersweet as we both concluded that the marriage was over,” he said.

The above-linked story notes that Fleck has not yet had to vote on any LGBT-related issues.

Last month Democrat Brian Sims was elected as Pennsylvania’s first openly gay legislator.

(source)

Posted on

PA: Brian Sims, first openly gay legislator, ready to take office

Pennsylvania’s first elected gay legislator is getting ready to take office in the State House in January after winning an uncontested race this past week.

Brian Sims ran against long-time Democratic incumbent Rep. Babette Josephs of the 182nd Legislative district in Philadelphia in the April primary and beat her.

Since openly gay Brian Sims ran uncontested in the general election, he is now officially Pennsylvania’s first-ever openly gay legislator:

He had no Republican opponent in Tuesday’s general election so once the first vote was cast and no write-ins were visible, Sims was considered elected by the end of the night. Sims says he’s proud to be the first LGBT legislator to be elected in Pennsylvania, but says that distinction will not define him once he is sworn in at the beginning of January. “I want to change our tax code. I also want to grapple back so much of that funding that we lost for education. So, I’ve got my work cut out for me in a whole bunch of areas,” he says.

(source)

Posted on

Pennsylvania judge halts new voter ID law

Good news for those fighting voter disenfranchisement, the AP reports:

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson said in his ruling that he was concerned by the state’s stumbling efforts to create a photo ID that is easily accessible to voters and that he could not rely on the assurances of government officials at this late date that every voter would be able to get a valid ID.

If it stands, it is good news for Obama’s chances in Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s biggest electoral college prizes, unless Republicans and the tea party groups that backed the law find a way to use it to motivate their supporters and possibly independents.

Simpson’s ruling could be appealed to the state Supreme Court, although state officials weren’t ready to say Tuesday whether they would appeal.

Posted on

Pennsylvania to get first openly gay state legislator

Brian Sims has won a decisive Democratic primary in his Philadelphia district and will become Pennsylvania’s first openly gay state representative.

Sims defeated a longtime incumbent to capture the Democratic nomination in the heavily Democratic District 182, and will face no Republican opponent this November.

Sims, a former member of the Victory Campaign Board, is a distinguished policy attorney and civil rights advocate from Center City Philadelphia. The former Staff Counsel for Policy and Planning at the Philadelphia Bar Association, he recently stepped down as the President of the Board of Directors of Equality Pennsylvania.
(source)

Posted on

Pennsylvania: proposed bill to amend state constitution outlawing marriage equality

From Equality Pennsylvania: A vote on House Bill (HB) 1434 is scheduled for TUESDAY, MARCH 13 in the House State Government Committee. Now is the time to let your voice be heard. HB 1434, proposed by Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, would not only amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to define marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman, it would invalidate any other type of legal union or one substantially equivalent. That means any discussion of civil unions or domestic partnerships would forever be off the table for consideration.

Passage of this legislation will also forcefully terminate benefits currently provided to thousands of employees in municipalities or state owned schools or facilities that offer domestic partnership benefits.

Pennsylvania residents – contact your legislators by clicking here.

Get more info on how you can make your opinion known by visiting Equality Pennsylvania.

UPDATE: The Pennsylvania legislature has put on hold discussion of a proposed bill that would bar in the state Constitution recognition of same-sex marriage, according to the blog PoliticsPA.com.

Posted on

Half of Pennsylvanians Support Marriage Equality

Half of the Pennsylvania adults surveyed in a new poll favor the prospect of allowing same-sex couples to marry, putting state residents in line with changing attitudes across the country.

The Towanda Daily Review reports on the Franklin and Marshall College poll released Wednesday. In addition to the findings on marriage equality, the poll showed even more support for civil unions, with 62% in varying degrees of favor. “The poll shows about a third (33 percent) strongly favor a constitutional amendment that would allow homosexual couples to get married and about another sixth (17 percent), said they would somewhat favor a constitutional amendment to legalize same-sex marriage,” according to the Daily Review.

The publication continued, “That represents a sharp shift since June 2009, the last time F&M asked about same-sex marriage. Back then, the results were almost exactly reversed with a majority (52 percent) opposed to the legalization amendment and only about two-fifths (42 percent) in favor. On civil unions, 58 percent were in favor in 2009, while only 42 percent were in favor in February 2004, an era when same-sex marriage played a key role in the presidential election that year.”

In contrast to public attitudes, Republicans in control of the legislature and governor’s office have expressed interest in passing a constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.
(via The Advocate)