Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

For almost 20 years, Daryl Metcalfe has been employed by the residents of the 12th State House District of Pennsylvania to represent them in the PA General Assembly.

He has amassed quite an impressive record of obstructionist, racist hate and not so much a record of effectively working with his district leaders to address issues such as infrastructure. Or anything. He’s a bitter, nasty, grubby little man who is wringing every bit of his resentment and ignorance out on Pennsylvanians.  Take a look at this July 2018 profile of Metcalfe by Philly Mag. 

When Sims showed up for a State Gov meeting in his first term, Metcalfe naturally asked him to recite the pledge, which he proceeded to do. In Spanish. An apoplectic Metcalfe, who once sponsored a failed English Only bill, began shouting the pledge in English. Ever since, Sims, the son of retired Army lieutenant colonels, has made a point of saying the pledge loudly in Spanish within earshot of Metcalfe.

There is nothing he could do that would shock me.

Even so, I was sad tonight to watch the KDKA interview with Metcalfe’s challenger, Daniel Smith Jr, after Daryl sent out a mailer attacking Smith’s husband.

You can watch the video, but essentially Metcalfe tells KDKA’s Jon Delano that he uses quotation marks around the word husband because he does not recognize same-sex marriage.

Is that how Butler County operates – just the rules they like and screw the laws (or the Constitution) when it doesn’t suit them? How is that working out in regards to repairing roads and addressing other local economic development issues?

It is clear that the Republicans benefit from this ridiculous parody of a extreme right wingnut who does their dirty work and keeps that very right base happy. Metcalfe could slaughter a Nittany Lion on the floor of the House and then enjoy some ice cream and the Republicans wouldn’t do anything.

Will Butler County? Is this what they want?

It would be easy to dismiss Metcalfe as the troll prince of Western Pennsylvania, where he lords over a relatively paltry fiefdom of the roughly 70,000 residents of Pennsylvania’s 12th State House district, a bucolic patchwork of farms and suburbs north of Pittsburgh. 

Do you really think companies like Amazon are going to relocate to a Commonwealth where such a vile human being is given so much power? They’d be foolish.

So anyway, back to Dan Smith. He’s quite qualified to go to Harrisburg, work across the aisle, and create a much more constructive and healthy dynamic for his constituents.  During the interview below I was struck by how profoundly he was impacted by the complete erasure of his husband. I’m sure he knew this was coming, but that doesn’t make it okay.

If you aren’t a queer person, you might not understand – but LGBTQ folks do. We all experience moments of erasure of ourselves and our families. From these open attacks to the paperwork in the PCP’s office to what you say/do when stopping for a bite to eat in a county that doesn’t protect our right to be served. Some are just so much ingrained in us that we barely acknowledge, but others are so painful.

So I’m asking those you reading this post to take a few moments to donate any amount to Dan’s campaign. $5, $25, whatever you can contribute. Each new donation matters. You can bet party officials on both sides in the district and beyond are watching this data.

Be sure to follow Dan’s campaign on Facebook, too.

Join me and the other ‘liberal gay activists’ and support Dan Smith, Jr to give Daryl Metcalfe the consequences he deserves.  If you know someone in the district, send them this blog post and ask them to vote for Dan. Republicans are never ever going to rid us of Metcalfe. It is up to the voters.