In an effort to amend Pennsylvania’s constitution to extend civil rights to all Pennsylvania residents including the LGBTQ community, Pennsylvania House Democrats made a strong effort to get House Bill 55, Amendment A170 passed on Tuesday, January 26.
Brian Sims, the representative for the 182nd district in the state, took to the House floor to make an impassioned speech urging the House Republicans, who are the majority, to vote in favor of the amendment.
Sims, who shared the experience on his social media accounts, revealed:
BREAKING: Moments ago I stood before my House Colleagues & asked them to support protections from discrimination for LGBTQ+ Americans! I begged them. I’ll share my remarks shortly & every single Republican voted against it, but every Democrat voted in favor, a first in PA!
— Brian Sims 🌈 (@BrianSimsPA) January 26, 2021
The 42-year-old openly gay representative also shared a video of his speech via the Pennsylvania House Video Official YouTube channel.
During the video, Sims expounded:
“I shared quotes from a few of my LGBTQ heroes, Barney Frank, Harvey Milk and I think about their heroics and leadership often, about how special they were, but also how special any of us can be. How heroic we can be in a singular moment, a moment history makes, a moment like this.”
Other representatives to persuade the Pennsylvania House Republicans were Jessica Benham, 36th district.
And Dan Frankel, 23rd district
As expected, the vote went down part lines with all of the Democrats voting in favor of the amendment and all of the Republicans voting against it striking down the chance of the amendment passing.
While the failure of the amendment was not unexpected, there were many that were disappointed in the House Republicans.
Pennsylvania Republicans believe it is ok to allow businesses and landlords to discriminate against LGBTQ people, and don’t believe the government should offer the same civil rights protections to LGBTQ people that are given to Christians, BIPOC, immigrants, etc. It’s that simple https://t.co/NsBllS1mTV
— Ryan Deto (@RyanDeto) January 26, 2021
Today everyone one of my Republican colleagues voted against equality for all Pennsylvanians @BrianSimsPA @RepDavidson @malcolmkenyatta #Equalityforall @EqualityNow https://t.co/gRmpf99jIc
— Rep. Maureen Madden (@RepMadden) January 26, 2021
https://twitter.com/nathanielO100/status/1354215681491927042
What did you think of Sims’ speech? Let us know in the comments or on our social media accounts.
Sources: Brian Sims Official Twitter Page, Pa. House Video Official YouTube Channel, Pennsylvania House of Representatives Website
