"One of the Best Marriage Equality Debates" Between Two Pennsylvania Senators

Pennsylvania State Sen. Daylin Leach recently introduced a marriage equality bill that is countered by Sen. John Eichelberger and his bill to ban same-sex marriage in the Keystone State.

This week, they debated the bill on WHYY in Philadelphia and the result is being called "One of the Best Marriage Equality Debates You'll Ever Listen To."

Sen. Leach addressed all the ol' homophobic standby arguments that the right wing has used for years against LGBT, especially those surrounding marriage equality. Even better, Sen. Eichelberger exposed how truly a hateful homophobe that he is.

You can listen to the whole debate on WHYY.org.

Here's a bit of the transcripts thanks to Towleroad:

LEACH: How would he [Eichelberger] want to encourage stability in gay couples?

EICHELBERGER: I wouldn’t. I mean they can practice whatever sexual activity they like to practice, but there’s no reason to give them special consideration. We don’t give them special consideration in Pennsylvania for any reason. Why in the world would we allow them to marry?

LEACH: How would you encourage gay couples to be able to provide for their families?

EICHELBERGER: Well, I wouldn't.

LEACH: What would you expect of them?

EICHELBERGER: There is no reason to encourage that type of behavior in Pennsylvania...That comes back to the definition of family and that’s where we differ. We can call all kinds of things families. I mean, we can say a 3 party marriage is a family, or 7 or 8 people or marrying younger and younger children these days .

HOST: Are you saying that by their very nature homosexual relationships are dysfunctional?

EICHELBERGER: [Pause] Um. I guess I would say that. I would say that.

LEACH: Should our only policy towards [same-sex] couples be one of punishment, to somehow prove that they’ve done something wrong? Eichelberger: They’re not being punished. We’re allowing them to exist, and do what every American can do. We’re just not rewarding them with any special designation.

Eichelberger was asked about the children that were currently being raised in same-sex homes in Pennsylvania and what could be done to protect them. His answer: "Nothing."

Wow. Just wow. I can't fit the whole transcript on here, but Sen. Eichelberger is unreal. If you need fresh motivation to keep up the fight for equal rights, just listen to this guy.

ACTION: Keystone Progress has a petition demanding that Sen. Eichelberger apologize online.