Free Republic

An openly gay Pennsylvania lawmaker has drawn backlash after he “welcomed” Vice President Mike Pence to Philadelphia with a picture of himself flipping the bird. “Get bent, then get out!” state Rep. Brian Sims, of Philadelphia, wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday ahead of Mr. Pence’s visit to a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner. “Vice President Mike Pence, let me be the first person to officially welcome you to the City of Brotherly Love, and to my District in the State House!” Mr. Sims wrote. “To be clear, we’re a City of soaring diversity. We believe in the...

Gay-rights activists meeting in Denver start the tough work Friday of mapping out plans to see the new administration adopt policies they favor, while recounting what went wrong last year in failed attempts to defeat anti-gay ballot measures in California and other states. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force wants to see President Barack Obama make federal changes they say are years overdue, such as repealing the military's "don't ask, don't tell" ban on openly gay service members. But gay-rights activists say they're afraid they'll be on the back burner in Washington as the economy dwarfs all. And activists...