Happy Pride Month:
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic Senate candidate, said Tuesday that state employees have again taken down his LGBT Pride flags at the behest of Republicans.
“I can’t say I am surprised, but I am deeply disappointed that the flags were removed, on the literal start of Pride Month,” Fetterman said in a statement.
“But what’s even more disappointing and angering is that the Republicans in Pennsylvania can quickly come up with legislation to take down the flags, but not to ensure that Pennsylvania law explicitly protects the LGBTQIA+ community from discrimination. This is bullshit,” he added.
The Republican-dominated state legislature in November included a provision in its budget bill that called for banning the display of non-approved flags at the state Capitol, including the LGBTQ- and transgender-rights and pro-marijuana flags Fetterman hangs from his office balcony.
The provision only allows for the American flag, Pennsylvania’s state flag or flags honoring missing American soldiers to be displayed at the state Capitol or on its grounds.
And of course, Pennsylvania Republicans keep crying about their stupid law:
“Lieutenant Governor Fetterman plays an essential role in carrying out Pennsylvania laws. By his continued defiance of the law that was passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Wolf, he continues to set a poor example to Pennsylvanians about what it means to respect the rule of law in this commonwealth,” said House GOP spokesman Jason Gottesman on Tuesday.
Fetterman, who officiated the first same sex marriage in Allegheny County in 2013 when it was still banned in this state, said the way to get him to stop displaying his flags is for the General Assembly to pass laws legalizing marijuana and extending the state’s anti-discrimination protections to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Legislative efforts to do both have been introduced in several sessions but fail to gain much traction.
Fetterman wasted no time campaigning on this. Received this e-mail today from Fetterman’s campaign:
I hope to be among the first to wish you a Happy Pride Month.
To honor the occasion, my staff and I did some decorating. Check out the view from my balcony at the PA State Capitol:
Flying this flag from my office is technically breaking a law. The GOP sends the "flag police" to confiscate these flags every chance they get.
But no matter what, I'm just gonna keep hanging my flags back up, Sam. They are more than just pieces of cloth. They are a signal to the world that we are still fighting for LGBTQIA+ rights protected under law.
The fact must change that, in 2021, it's still perfectly legal to discriminate against the LGBTQIA+ community in PA. The fact must change that our leaders haven't had the courage to pass the Equality Act into law, ensuring rights and protections for LGBTQIA+ folks across our country. And the fact must change that someone can be fired from their job, refused care at a hospital, or denied housing because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It's ludicrous.
We must *never* stop pushing for equal protection under the law for every American — and if elected to the Senate, I pledge to you that I will always fight boldly, relentlessly, and proudly for LGBTQIA+ rights and freedoms.
If you agree that expanding rights and protections for LGBTQIA+ Americans is a no-brainer, then I'm respectfully asking you to make an important impact on our big, inclusive, and PROUD campaign by making your next donation today. As our way of saying thank you, we'll send you something our campaign is really excited about: Our official Team Fetterman Pride Sticker!
Contribute $50
Thank you so much, Sam.
From me, Gisele, and our entire family and campaign: Happy Pride!
John
John Fetterman
Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
P.S. Pride is a preeeeetty huge deal to our campaign. And to show it, we want to send you something special so you can celebrate Pride Month, too. So, by donating anything to our campaign today, we'll send you one of our official Team Fetterman Pride Stickers as our way of saying thank you and Happy Pride!
Get your free sticker right now.
Click here to donate to Fetterman’s campaign.
By the way, as we are waiting to see what Rep. Conor Lamb (D. PA-17) does about the Senate race, this is caught my attention:
A bipartisan duo introduced a congressional bill on Friday that would make clear that U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) doctors can discuss state-legal marijuana programs with veterans.
Reps. Conor Lamb (D-PA) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) filed the legislation—titled the Fully Informed Veteran Act—which would allowing VA doctors to provide basic information and resources about state-legal cannabis programs to veterans.
As far as veteran and marijuana-specific legislation is concerned, this is an especially modest reform.
The VA secretary “shall authorize physicians and other health care providers of the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide to veterans who are residents of States with State-approved marijuana programs information regarding the participation of such veterans in such programs,” the text states.
“Information” is defined as “informational materials, Internet website, and relevant contact information for State-approved marijuana program.”
The legislation would not allow VA physicians to actually issue recommendations to veterans to participate in those state programs, however.
Under current VA administrative policies, the department’s doctors are currently allowed to discuss cannabis with patients and document their usage in medical records, and those veteran patients are already shielded from losing their benefits for marijuana use—but the new bill would enshrine into law a more basic policy on providing information about cannabis programs for those who live in areas where it’s legal.
And kudos to The Pittsburgh City Paper for calling out this Wannabe Sedition Caucus Member:
After former President Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election, a cavalcade of Pennsylvania Republicans sprang to Trump's defense, and even went as far to attempt to delegitimize President Joe Biden’s election victory. Among those were former Congressional candidate and now U.S. Senate candidate Sean Parnell (R-Ohio Township), who joined a failed suit against Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania legislature claiming that the state's mail-in voting law was unconstitutional.
In fact, all attempts to delegitimize Pennsylvania’s election results were thwarted by the courts, but that hasn’t stopped Republicans like Parnell from continuing to call the election results into question, as Trump continues to parrot similar talking points.
But this wasn’t always the case. Before Trump secured the Republican nomination in 2016, Parnell criticized Trump often and in harsh terms. He called for Trump to release his tax returns (only to criticize liberals for focusing on tax returns a year later), he said Trump’s campaign was failing to unify the country, and he criticized Trump’s debate performance, all while openly endorsing and supporting Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Florida) run for president.
Friendly reminder, we have big state Supreme Court Elections in Pennsylvania this year and we also have a Governor’s race as well. Here’s something to keep an eye on:
A Pennsylvania lawmaker who spent thousands of dollars to bus protesters to the US Capitol on January 6 will be in Arizona this week to tour the site of a GOP-backed "audit" of the 2020 election.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano is part of a three-person "delegation" from Pennsylvania that will be meeting with fellow Republicans and those counting ballots in Maricopa County, which President Joe Biden won by more than 45,000 votes, a victory certified by local GOP elections officials who oppose the current audit.
As WHYY reported, Mastriano spent more than $3,300 in campaign funds to charter buses from Pennsylvania to Washington, DC, on the day of the insurrection at the US Capitol. Recently uncovered video shows Mastriano, a potential candidate for governor who has boasted of support from the former president, "breaching a police barricade" and walking on the lawn outside the building, according to Pennsylvania Spotlight.
Mastriano's visit was announced by the official Twitter account of the "Maricopa Arizona Audit," which was commissioned by Arizona Republicans in the state Senate and is being conducted by a private firm, Cyber Ninjas, whose founder last fall shared pro-Trump conspiracy theories about election fraud. The visit will include a tour and getting "a brief from the forensic audit team," according to the account.
Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims is a lifesaver. When he learned he was a perfect donor match for a gay man was dying of renal failure last year, he agreed to donate one of his kidneys. This week, over a year later, Sims tweeted he ran into the now-healthy recipient and his husband while the two men were having lunch. He also revealed that when his parents came to town, the group all shared a meal together.
“My recipient Alan and his husband John were sitting having lunch,” Sims tweeted of the chance encounter that occured while he was walking to his office last month. “A perfectly normal, healthy, happy couple sitting in the sun enjoying each other’s company. It was perfection!”
Sims had initially kept the news secret. However, he initially revealed it last year after some Republican members of the Pennsylvania legislature tested positive for the virus but hid their status and came to work anyway without telling anyone. Sims blasted them, revealing why their actions hit home personally as well.
“In late January I secretly donated a kidney to a person who lives about 10 blocks from me in the City,” Sims tweeted at the time. “He was dying of renal failure and I turned out to be a near perfect match.”
The surgery went well and the “recipient began to improve almost immediately and his long term prognosis is strong.”
Let’s get ready to keep Pennsylvania Blue. Click below to donate and get involved with Fetterman and these Pennsylvania Democrats campaigns: