Openly gay lawmaker posts photo welcoming Mike Pence to Pennsylvania

In a post to his Facebook page, Rep. Brian Sims (D-PA) welcomed Vice President Mike Pence to the state of Pennsylvania with a rather unconventional message.

Sims, who is Philadelphia’s first openly gay legislator, posted the photo with the intro, “OFFICIAL WELCOME” just before Pence’s scheduled visit to the city. The photo features him with his middle finger raised towards the camera.

“To be clear, we’re a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the power of all people to live and to contribute: Black, Brown, Queer, Trans, Atheist, Immigrant, we want you and we’ll respect you,” Sims wrote in the post.

“So keep that in mind while you’re here raising money to attack more families, spread more lies, blaspheme with your bible, and maybe even talk to a woman without your wife in the room,” he continued. “We have plenty of them, and they’re pretty much all more powerful and more real than you have ever been.

“So…get bent, then get out!” Sims added.

Pence came to Philly this Tuesday to attend a GOP fundraiser for GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Wagner.

According to the Philly Voice, “hundreds of people” took to the streets during Pence’s visit to protest the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that has resulted in children being separated from parents who’ve tried to cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. This Wednesday, President Trump reversed course and signed an order to keep families together while they’re being detained.

Pence is a known opponent of LGBT rights. As The Hill points out, in 2015 he signed the “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” into law, which activists said would make it legal to discriminate against the LGBT community. In a somewhat prophetic video released in March of 2015, The Human Rights Campaign created a little mashup of an appearance by then-Indiana GovernorPence on ABC’s This Week with anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Time and time again, Stephanopoulos tried to get Pence to clarify where he stands on discrimination against gays and lesbians, and time and time again, Pence does everything he can to avoid answering the question directly.

Featured image via Facebook

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.