Political feuding in Pennsylvania and it’s involving hunky out gay politician Brian Sims. The much beloved state representative is involved in a political tiff with Republican Representative Tom Murt who claims Sims used threatening and hostile language towards Murt in a phone call earlier this week.
“On Monday, Aug. 3, at 9:30 p.m., Rep. Brian Sims sent me a text that was angry, enraged and wrathful, accusing me of treating LGBTQ+ rights as a ‘joke or a football.’ I immediately called him.
“In the past, Rep. Sims and I have been gracious colleagues and friends. He answered my call and he directly launched a verbal, hostile and threatening attack on me personally, using foul language, screaming at me, and stating that (in this order):
– ‘I will ruin you.’
– ‘You are finished.’
– ‘I will get you for this.’
– ‘I’m not done with you.’
“At that time, I did NOT know why Rep. Sims was so upset, nor did he explain it to me. I could only suspect that it might be about a co-sponsor memo I circulated earlier that day. In the past, Rep. Sims and I have worked together on LGBTQ+ issues, so I was not sure why he would have been so enraged about this particular bill.
“I said to him directly, ‘Brian, if you are angry about my LGBTQ+ Bill of Rights, because if it is – you know that I care about this issue as much as anyone.’ I also reminded him (through his yelling and screaming) that I have always treated him with the utmost of respect as a friend and a colleague.
“I asked him three separate times, ‘why are you attacking me and why are you so upset if we agree on this issue?’ He never answered me. I could not and did not further respond to him, as he would not stop yelling and screaming.
“His language was so loud and profane, my wife heard every word coming though the telephone. His language was so vitriolic, I walked outside with the telephone so my family would not hear his obscene language and his repeated use of the f-word.
“As I tried to get him to calm down, he only spoke louder and more belligerently, and continued to use the f-word repeatedly. Fearfully, I finally ended the call.
“I then called the Upper Moreland Township Police, who later visited my home. I spoke to an officer about what happened. I expressed to the officer that based on the actions and threats made by Rep. Sims, I was very concerned for the safety of me, my family and my staff.”
Upper Moreland, Pennsylvania police have confirmed they are investigating the allegations while Sims has denied them
“LOL in my entire life I’ve never said these things to Tom [Murt] or anyone else,” Sims wrote in an post on social media.
“I did make it abundantly clear to him that killing the effort to advance LGBTQ legislation in Pennsylvania with his weird campaign effort is something that I’d make sure advocates knew about. And they do.”
The hub bub is over proposed legislation in the Pennsylvania legislature for an “LGBTQ Bill of Rights“, something the state of Pennsylvania currently lacks. The proposal would afford more protections for LGBTQ+ citizens including protections from hate crimes. Sims makes it clear that it’s unlikely any kind of meaningful legislation could be created and passed in the final two weeks of the current Pennsylvania legislative session.