PA GOP State Rep Mike Fleck Comes Out As Gay

Well, this is encouraging! Mike Fleck, a Republican state legislator in Pennsylvania, announced he was gay this weekend. Fleck, 39, was married (to a woman) in 2002 but they separated a year ago. He has been considered something of a moderate Republican in local political circles.

Politics PA has more details:

“Coming out is hard enough, but doing it in the public eye is definitely something I never anticipated,” he said. “I’m still the exact same person and I’m still a Republican and, most importantly, I’m still a person of faith trying to live life as a servant of God and the public. The only difference now is that I will also be doing so as honestly as I know how.”

He said his party affiliation remains strong.

“The Republican party is all about the government needing to stay out of people’s lives,” Fleck said. “I’m not a one-issue person and it’s not a one-issue party.”

Interestingly, there are very few openly gay Republican politicians around the country. (Zach Wyatt of Missouri is the only known current Republican legislator who is known publicly to be gay.) Fleck, in fact, is the first openly gay politician in Pennsylvania although Democrat Brian Sims was elected in November 2012 to House District 182 and will be formally sworn in to office in January.

What is also unusual about Sims story is that there was no scandal that led to his coming out, it appears to be a time and date of his choosing. Maybe this will encourage other gay Republican politicians to come out as well. Statistically, we know that there must be more LGBT politicians who are Republicans, since approximately 3.5 percent of all Americans will identify themselves as openly lesbian, gay or bisexual.