Out lawmaker Brian Sims says he serves with 'over a dozen closeted members'

Washington, D.C. - In a recent interview, Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims said that he serves with "over a dozen closeted members."

Sims, a Democrat, is the first openly gay person elected to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Sims made the comment while speaking with LGBT glossy The Advocate.

"I serve with over a dozen closeted members, whom I would never identify to anybody else, and when I joined the legislature, many of them were co-sponsors of anti-LGBT bills," he said. "Some of the most intense misogyny I see towards women comes from gay men. Whereas I would think that living a life where others marginalize you would teach you how to combat marginalization and how to recognize it, oftentimes, it teaches people how to be good at it themselves."

Sims added that most homophobia "is really anger at a person because their sexuality veers from what somebody [else thinks] it should be."

"The same mind that thinks gay is wrong is a mind that already thinks that women are lesser, that femininity is weak," he said.

(Related: Brian Sims: Holding my boyfriend's hand in public shows "we're proud of our romantic life.")