[MAJOR UPDATE]
John Fetterman just refuted this news and said the letter below came from his staff and he does not support the letter. This, via a reporter from Business Insider:
🚨@SenFettermanPA tells me he does NOT support withdrawing the $1 million in federal funding for the William Way LGBT Center, and that the decision was made by his staff.
“I did not support that document.”
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) March 6, 2024
He told @ktullymcmanus and I that he was “horrified” to learn about the decision, which came in part after a @libsoftiktok tweet.
“[Who] cares what the Libs of Tiktok has to say about that?”
— bryan metzger (@metzgov) March 6, 2024
Good grief! Who runs the show in his office, him or his staff? Unbelievable.
Well, so much for any kudos we were sending his way.
[MINOR UPDATE]
Libs of TikTok points out that Fetterman refuting this letter and blaming his staff for it is really moot because: “It’s too late though. The Senate already voted last night to remove it 👏”
– – [EARLIER REPORTING] – –
John Fetterman continues to impress after he has just pulled his support for renovation funding of an LGBT center in Philadelphia that he had previously requested.
Fetterman sent a letter to the chairman of the Senate Appropriations committee, who had added it to a spending bill to be voted on next Wednesday, and said unequivocally that he no longer supports this funding for the William Way LGBT Community Center:
This comes after Fetterman pushed for this funding late last year and even lambasted House Republicans early last year for stripping the funding out of their bill:
Republicans in the House voted to strip funding from two LGBTQ Centers in Pennsylvania BECAUSE they were LGBTQ centers.
They *literally* struck all programs with the letters “L G B T and Q”
This is just flat out, mask-off bigotry.https://t.co/jEWJSmP1HO
— Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) July 18, 2023
So what caused this sudden change of heart? While Fetterman didn’t include his rationale, it came immediately after Libs of Tiktok exposed the center for hosting BDSM sex and fetish parties:
BREAKING: The Senate Appropriations Committee released a spending bill which is being voted on tomorrow.
It includes $1M of your tax dollars to go towards renovating an LGBTQ Center in PA which boasts rooms to try BDSM and s*x f*tishes and hosts BDSM and s*x k*nk parties. There’s even a k*nk party happening there this weekend!
.@SenBobCasey and @SenFettermanPA are the ones who requested this funding. Absolutely sick that our tax dollars would fund this!
BREAKING: The Senate Appropriations Committee released a spending bill which is being voted on tomorrow.
It includes $1M of your tax dollars to go towards renovating an LGBTQ Center in PA which boasts rooms to try BDSM and s*x f*tishes and hosts BDSM and s*x k*nk parties.… pic.twitter.com/PKkj6TEd2q
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 5, 2024
How many Democrats would ever pull support of an LGBT funding center like this? ZERO. It’s quite astonishing that Fetterman did so and he deserves props for doing it.