Gay marriage proponents rally in Harrisburg

Supporters of a bill to legalize gay marriage in Pennsylvania made their case at a Harrisburg rally Wednesday.

Supporters of a bill to legalize gay marriage in Pennsylvania made their case at a Harrisburg rally Wednesday.

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[audio: 090708sdmarriage.mp3]

Delaware County Senator Daylin Leach’s bill would make Pennsylvania the seventh state to legalize gay marriage, but it faces an uphill battle in the chamber, where Republicans have a ten-seat edge. Among the speakers at the rally was Tom Hair of Northampton County, who’s been with his partner Earl for 33 years. He says they got married in Canada in 2003.

Leach: 27 years we were engaged to be married. That’s a long engagement. I don’t know of any heterosexual in our families, our friends, our communities, that would accept that indignity.

Leach, a Democrat, has said he’s hoping for hearings on the bill this fall. A Constitutional amendment put forward by Blair County Republican John Eichelberger would ban gay marriage. There’s also a House bill in circulation that would re-write Pennsylvania’s anti-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation, as well as race, ethnicity and religion.