A few weeks ago, a reader gave me some crap for not being more supportive of openly gay candidate, Brian Simms who is running against Babette Josephs, a long-time, active,  and loud vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights for PA citizens. I can only think of one other Representative in the House who works as hard or harder for LGBTQ rights, and that is Pittsburgh’s own Dan Frankel. My beef with Brian, isn’t that he is running in general because I think he is a smart, articulate, and talented person, and I’d love to see him in there fighting for a better Pennsylvania. But I question if taking out such a strong supporter is a good move in the bigger scheme of things. I still hold that opinion, by the way.

Why not instead, look at getting out Lesbian, Gay, Bi or Trans persons elected all across the state and start by looking for those districts where a candidate is unopposed? and today I have two of those types of districts to discuss:

PA House District 4 (Erie part) currently held by Curtis Sonney running unopposed.

This is a great seat to go after by a progressive since the House is not controlled by the Republicans. Any seat we can take from them, the closer we are to Democrat rule there. As long as the GOP retains control, Darryl Metcalfe will head up the single most important committee, and he will never let a LGBT Rights bill get out of his committee. In other words, and LGBT Rights legislation is dead as long as the Republicans control the PA House, or Metcalfe is in office. Takigng this seat from the GOP is one small step in that direction.

PA House district 45 currently held by Democrat Nick Kotik

The word I have is that Nick is considering retirement, and so having a progressive run would be a very good thing.

Now, I know that running is no small matter, and if you have no clue where to get started, don’t worry about that.  I can direct you to folks who have all of those answers and potentially the connection to funding, since every campaign needs money.

The Victory Fund is out there specifically to help LGBTQ candidates make progress, and other resources exist to help individuals become viable candidates. If you need more information or have questions, feel free to contact me and I can connect you to the best folks.