Brian Sims: Soon to Be Pennsylvania's First Openly Gay State Lawmaker

We first heard about Brian Sims when Outsports reported that he came out to his football team and then led them to a Division II National Championship game.

Now, the 33-year-old Democrat has claimed victory in the primary race for the Pennsylvania's District 182, which covers Philadelphia's Center City and South Philadelphia neighborhoods. The former executive director of Equality Pennsylvania, and recent Advocate 40 Under 40 honoree, will likely become the state's first openly gay legislator.

Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund commented: "LGBT Pennsylvanians will finally have a voice in their state legislature, and what a strong and unyielding voice it will be. We are thrilled for Brian, who ran a remarkable campaign." (Sims was a Victory Fund endorsee; read more at Gay Politics.)

A former member of the Victory Campaign Board, Sims is also "a distinguished policy attorney and civil rights advocate from Center City Philadelphia. The former Staff Counsel for Policy and Planning at the Philadelphia Bar Association, he recently stepped down as the President of the Board of Directors of Equality Pennsylvania," according the Victory Fund.

It probably doesn't hurt that he's a hunk, too.