About 75 LGBTs and allies assembled on the steps of Harrisburg’s Capitol Rotunda Monday afternoon to demonstrate their support for marriage equality and for those who are leading the fight to make it a reality in the Keystone State.
Pennsylvania Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17th Dist.), who is spearheading legislation that seeks to legalize same-sex marriage in the state, kicked off the afternoon press conference, which was one of a series of upcoming statewide Freedom to Marry Week activities.
Leach said that through his conversations about his bill with opponents of marriage equality, he’s heard several repetitive arguments, such as “marriage is between one man and one woman,” which he said “is not an argument, that’s a statement of current law in certain places. At some points in our history, you could say marriage is between a white man and a white woman or a black man and a black woman, and it was just as true and just as equally unconvincing of an argument.”
Leach said he’s also spoken with many who oppose marriage equality because of religious reasons, which he remarked shouldn’t play a role in civil marriage.
“You can say ‘My God doesn’t like it,’ which is fine. If your God’s opposed, then don’t marry someone of the same sex,” he said. “While some people argue that the Christian Bible opposes being gay, the Christian Bible also says people who work on the Sabbath should be put to death, people who wear garments made of more than one cloth should be put to death, if a man rapes a woman he has to marry her, it’s OK to own slaves and to beat them just as long as they don’t die in two days. Nobody in their right minds would think that any of that should be law in Pennsylvania, but why is it that only gay people still have to live as if they’re in the first century?”
Bolton Winpenny, one of the organizers of Freedom to Marry Week, commended Leach for his leadership, both on the bill and during the conference.
“He is just an excellent speaker, especially on this issue,” he said. “He hit all the points right on.”
State Rep. Babette Josephs (D-182nd Dist.) also took the mike and spoke about her dedication to squelching Sen. John Eichelberger’s (D-30th Dist.) bill to introduce a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Other speakers included Winpenny, the Rev. Justin Osterman from the Main Line Unitarian Church, Silent Witnesses executive director Alanna Berger and Pennsylvania Diversity Network executive director Liz Bradbury, whose photo project of 385 Pennsylvania same-sex couples will be displayed through this weekend in the Rotunda.
Prior to the conference, about 45 meetings had been scheduled among LGBTs and allies and their elected officials, but Winpenny said about 30 actually took place due to the snow preventing many lobbyists from coming to Harrisburg on Monday.
Following the lobbying activity and the press conference, the activists set off on a march and rally through Harrisburg.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].