As released by the Office of Brian Sims:

PHILADELPHIA—Pennsylvania State Representative Brian Sims, D-Phila., on Monday announced he will spend the legislature’s Thanksgiving recess traveling to the United States Embassy in Japan at the invitation of newly-appointed U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy.

Sims will address students, activists, attorneys, academics and others alongside Ambassador Kennedy and Japanese government officials on the eve of the 65th anniversary of the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

“I am deeply honored that Ambassador Kennedy has asked me to participate in this historic occasion and represent the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania at one of her first major events in Japan,” Sims said. “Freedom and equality are universal ideals, and I am eager to meet with and learn from our friends in Japan as we discuss human rights around the globe.”

A civil rights attorney with a degree in international and comparative law, Sims is a nationally-recognized LGBT and civil rights advocate and serves as special counsel at the Philadelphia-based law firm Saul Ewing LLP.

“Philadelphia is the birthplace of the American democracy and a world-class city I am proud to represent on an international stage,” Sims continued. “Having worked to promote civil rights my entire career, this opportunity allows me to reflect on Philadelphia’s long and storied history. From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to recently becoming the most LGBT-friendly city in the United States, Philadelphia has always been at the forefront of the struggle for human rights.”

Sims will spend a week touring the Japanese cities Osaka and Tokyo. He is expected to meet with groups advocating for marriage equality and women’s reproductive rights, attorneys seeking to advance disability rights, as well as university students and members of the Japanese Diet (legislature). Sims will also present a lecture entitled “Advancing Human Rights as a Global Imperative: The Role of Civil Society in the United States” at the American Embassy in Tokyo. The trip will culminate in a reception in honor of Human Rights Day, which commemorates the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, at the Ambassadorial Residence in Tokyo where Sims will deliver remarks alongside Ambassador Kennedy.

When the Pennsylvania House of Representatives resumes session on Dec. 9, Sims will introduce a resolution commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognizing December 10, 2013 as “International Human Rights Day in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” A cosponsorship memorandum circulated last week has already garnered more than 30 cosponsors.

Elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012, Sims is the first openly LGBT elected state official in Pennsylvania history and represents the 182nd Legislative District covering most of Center City Philadelphia.

Photo/Natalie Cake