Pennsylvania Sen. Daylin Leach Introduces Marriage Equality Legislation

The very pro-LGBT Sen. Daylin Leach introduced marriage equality Senate Bill 935 Thursday which would change the legal definition of marriage in Pennsylvania to "a civil contract between two people who enter into matrimony."

Currently, the state's law defines marriage as "a civil contract by which one man and one woman take each other for husband and wife."

Sen. Leach, well-known for his amazing rebuttal against Sen. Eichelberger and his "we allow gays to exist" argument to support his dueling anti-marriage equality legislation, has been able to get more senators to back the bill, including Sen. Jim Ferlo.



See more of his speech.

"Marriage is a fundamental bedrock of our society," Leach said. "It is good for society for both straight and gay people to be married. Married people are more healthy, successful, and productive."

The legislation would also allow Pennsylvania to recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states.

Here is a copy of the full bill.

PA Marriage Equality Senate Bill 935

Sen. Eichelberger Issues Statement on His Quote "We're Allowing Gays to Exist."

In what has been coined, "One of the Best Marriage Equality Debates You Will Ever Hear," Pennsylvania's Sen. Daylin Leach, who has proposed a marriage equality bill for his state, and Sen. John Eichelberger, who has proposed banning same-sex marriage, argued their sides of the issue on WHYY.org. In the debate, Sen. Eichelberger, who struggled to support his argument without actual data and research said, "We're allowing the gays to exist."

In the news video below provided by NG Blog, Sen. Eichelberger claims his quote was taken out of context and states his issue with Keystone Progress, who has started a petition demanding he apologize for his comments.



His comment:

"This group is a politically active group that goes around the country targeting people that are involved in this issue. If this is an example of how they conduct themselves then it's difficult to continue dialogue and discussion if people intentionally misportray the truth."

I listened to the whole debate, which you can hear in full at WHYY.org, and Sen. Eichelberger struggled to stand his ground with the well-prepared Sen. Leach. Whether or not he meant it, Sen. Eichelberger did in fact make his offensive comments, underscoring the flaws of his position and proving, yet again, that opposition to same-sex marriage is based on discrimination and homophobia and not fact.

And don't get me started on his remarks about Keystone Progress twisting the truth when he's on record of doing that himself. How can one engage this man in an honest dialogue when he argues based off of hearsay, bigoted feelings and no facts?

Oh, and "misportray"? Is that even a word?

Once again, another politician decides to be on the wrong side of history. Do they ever learn?

"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.