Brian Sims (update)

On June 27, out and proud Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Sims (182nd Dist.) joined Rep. Steve McCarter (D-154th Dist.) In stating that they would introduce a bill to allow Pennsylvania to join the 13 states and Washington, DC, that now have marriage equality (at present Pennsylvania and New Jersey are the only northeastern states that do not allow gay marriage). Anti-gay legislator Rep. Daryl Metcalfe sought to silence Sims on the House floor when Sims tried to speak about the Supreme Court decision on DOMA and Prop. 8. Metcalfe said Sims was acting in “open rebellion against what the word of God has said, what God has said, and just open rebellion against God’s law*.” Sims states that the bipartisan support he saw after that incident was encouraging. With the legislature now in recess, Sims and McCarter plan to introduced the marriage equality bill in early fall.

Three things you don’t know about Brian Sims:

“I play the harmonica...I can walk on my hands, and I still hold Pennsylvania’s bench-press record. I pressed 500 pounds in college and every year I get a call from a school saying that somebody’s going to break my record, but so far they’ve all failed.”

*Note from your blogger: While I support Mr. Metcalfe’s right to his religious beliefs and opinions, shouldn’t this guy be at least familiar with the U.S. Constitution and its intentional separation of church and state in the First Amendment? As authors of the constitution, both James Madison and Thomas Jefferson wrote and spoke of the “total separation between church and state,” and their writings were used in the first legal test cases. As far back as 1797, the U.S. Senate ratified a treaty with Tripoli that stated in Article 11:

“As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity, of Mussulmen (ed.: Muslims); and, as the said States never entered into any war, or act of hostility against any Mahometan (ed.: Muslim) nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opinions, shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.”

To this day I keep this quote stored on my cell phone, and I have cited it many times when conversing with ignorant right-wingers. I just ask if they are aware of the language of our nation's Treaty with Tripoli of 1797, then I whip out my phone and read it. Shuts them up every time. Just a suggestion.

It was not always so. Myself a native Virginian, I know from studying history that the official church of the State of Virginia was the Anglican Church, to which tithes had to be paid during the 17th and 18th centuries. Presbyterians, Baptists and so forth were allowed to gather for worship, so long as they continued to pay tithes in support of the Anglican Church. These tithes were suspended in 1776 and never restored, and today, of course, Virginia has no state religion.

That said, legislative and religious bodies continue to react to one another. Although I live in Virginia along the shores of the Potomac, I can see the great mass of National Cathedral from Lynn Street upon exiting my building’s parking lot. Situated high atop Mount St. Alban, the cathedral pealed its bells for an hour beginning at noon on June 26, celebrating the Supreme Court’s decisions on DOMA and Prop. 8. Take THAT, Rep. Metcalfe.

My original blog post about footballer turned lawyer turned activist turned politician Brian Sims can be found here:

http://gayinfluence.blogspot.com/2013/01/brian-sims.html

Brian Sims

When Democrat Brian Sims (b. 1978) won a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives last November, he became the first openly gay member elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly. In a sort of group hug gesture, on the first day Sims reported for work, Republican representative Mike Fleck came out in a newspaper article later that day.* Commenting on Fleck’s revelation, Sims said, “The representative is an honorable man who has served his community well, and while I may disagree with him on a number of policy issues, if we are ever going to claw our way back out of this awful partisan divide that so many of our politicians have thrust us into, it's going to have to start with finding places of mutual respect and common ground. This is the perfect place to start.”

*Nothing like a little friendly competition, and pretty good for a state that spawned the political career of Rick Santorum.

Thirty-four-year-old Sims, who was sworn in Tuesday, has vowed to focus on gun control, saying, "We had more murders last year in Philadelphia than in all of Germany. Some people may have a deer problem. We have a murder problem."

In his role as a state legislator, he also plans to focus on jobs creation and education. His outspoken comment on the recent swearing-in ceremony:

"Each of us put our hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the constitution. We did not put our hand on the constitution and swear to uphold the Bible." - Brian Sims

Activist Sims recently stepped down as board president of Equality Pennsylvania, the statewide lesbian and gay advocacy organization. He also brings to politics a celebrated past as an openly gay football jock. As defensive tackle Sims had been captain of his college football team. In a 2009 article on OutSports.com, Sims shared with reporter Cyd Ziegler jr. that midway through the 2000 football season at Bloomsburg University (Pennsylvania) an ex-boyfriend tried to seek revenge by telling one of Sims’s teammates about their gay affair. When several of the guys on his team asked for confirmation, Sims was honest with them, freely admitting that he was gay.

To the credit of everyone involved, as word spread to the other players, no one made a big deal of it or kept their distance in the locker room. The team went on to complete a winning season and won playoff games until they found themselves participating in the Division II National Championship game. Sims said that his teammates actually took pride in having a gay player. He was hearing comments like, “Not only is this guy an All-Conference player, and not only is he a starter, and not only is he a good friend of mine, but I'm all right with the fact that he's gay.”

Relating to the Philadephia Inquirer how his sports career might help him in politics, he said, “If your opposition is dumb machismo, I speak the language.”

Sims earned a law degree from Michigan State University (2004) and took a job with the Philadelphia Bar Association, where he drafted a resolution in support of state legislation to protect against sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. Sims also joined the Board of Directors for Gay and Lesbian Lawyers of Philadelphia.

Citing our constitution’s separation of church and state and equal protection under the law for our citizens, Sims said, “There's not a valid policy argument to be made for why there isn't...100% equal rights for LGBT folks. There just isn't. The only argument that can be made... trace(s) back to religious norms. I happen to pay taxes to a government that says it won't base how it treats me on what a religion has to say about me.”

As a contributor to The Huffington Post, Sims commented last month, “Let's show the haters, the naysayers, the cynics and the critics all across the country that honesty is rewarded, integrity widespread, and an open mind and an open heart will always carry the day against fear, judgment and contempt.”