PA Senator Eichelberger: 'We're Allowing Gay Couples to Exist'
On Friday, Pennsylvania Senator John Eichelberger, who is sponsoring a bill to ban same-sex marriage in the state, held a radio debate with Senator Daylin Leach, who is sponsoring a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state. In the interview, Eichelberger said there's no reason to allow gay couples to marry and said that they're not being punished. In fact, he lauds the fact that gay couples are allowed to exist.
Listen, AFTER THE JUMP...
TRANSCRIPT
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.
Listen, AFTER THE JUMP...
Keystone Progress has a petition online demanding Eichelberger apologize online now.
Posted Jun. 22,2009 at 9:04 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Marriage, John Eichelberger, News, Pennsylvania | Permalink
What the F#$#?!?! "War is peace." "Hatred is acceptance." "Up is down." Bring me the head of Eichelberger!!!!!
Posted by: Jesse Helms | Jun 22, 2009 9:17:09 AM
That is so very nice of the GOP to just allow me to exist! Really, don't go out of your way...It's so nice to be just tolerated.
WOW!
Posted by: AJ | Jun 22, 2009 9:22:15 AM
Pathetic ignorant fascist is the perfect description.
Posted by: wisebear | Jun 22, 2009 9:25:44 AM
Another idiotic statement from a republican figure. Geez, will these people never learn.
Posted by: Crystal | Jun 22, 2009 9:25:51 AM
I couldn't believe how Eichelberger refused to acknowledge that gay men and lesbians are capable of actual partnerships and marriages, or any relationship based on love. He wouldn't say "loving relationships" or "partnerships" - he kept referring to them as sexual relationships. And no matter what Leach said, Eichelberger kept swinging back to the damned "slippery slope" argument, saying that legalized polygamy and pederasty were only five or ten years down the road if same-sex marriage gets the green light in PA.
Doesn't matter how many times I read stories like these, or write my own: this is equally shocking and disgusting, every single time.
Posted by: David | Jun 22, 2009 9:33:13 AM
I'd be more then happy to Punch Eichelberger right in his pompous face!
Posted by: Disgusted American | Jun 22, 2009 9:37:34 AM
I think it's rather big of us to allow Eichelberger to exist, though we may wish to reconsider that policy.
Posted by: David D. | Jun 22, 2009 9:40:28 AM
I couldn't let this go by without comment. I worked in NY in an organization that had many Holocaust survivors. I heard their stories and experiences first hand. Those words from Eichelberger "we allow them to exist" would be very familiar to my older work colleagues who are still living. Talk like that from someone in power like Eichelberger is chilling and a tiny step away from the experiences of my colleagues in 1935-45. Where would Eichelberger set up the camps and crematoriums in PA? Somewhere with good roads and transportation to haul the ashes away?
Posted by: RL | Jun 22, 2009 9:44:59 AM
For every Jesse Helms that dies, another scum bag rises up to take his place.
Posted by: Rad | Jun 22, 2009 9:46:38 AM
If only the late great Ethyl E. as Lucretia Borgia were alive today to deal with this pathetic little man.
(showing my age, forgive me)
Posted by: marius | Jun 22, 2009 9:50:03 AM
go directly to this assholes website and CONTACT HIM! Barrage him with emails.....the scumbag that he is!
Posted by: Disgusted American | Jun 22, 2009 9:50:18 AM
If Eichelberger doesn't turn out to be closeted homosexual, I'll eat my proverbial hat. Only the most self-loathing gay man could espouse such views. And this is a gay man, mark my words.
Posted by: mepaul | Jun 22, 2009 9:54:23 AM
What is there to be gained from such uneducated debate? Sen. Eichelberger didn't do his homework, it is time for you Sir to pick up a book or two.
Posted by: Rafael | Jun 22, 2009 9:56:55 AM
I am so f*%#ing tired of the argument put forth by people like him that equates our relationships to polygamy, incest, and pedophilia... I would like to know how what we would be receiving in terms of marriage and protection against discrimination and violence translates to "special" rights. Eichelberger and his arguement just proves on thing.... ignorant people breed faster than intelligent people.
Posted by: Jeremy | Jun 22, 2009 10:06:51 AM
MARY!
Posted by: CB | Jun 22, 2009 10:08:03 AM
I wrote to him:
Senator Eichelberger:
I heard your comments on gay and lesbian Americans. Please note that I am gay and American; I have been with my partner for almost six years; we have a wonderful, loving relationship and own a home together. My partner and I both have families; we are both college-educated (I will receive a master's degree in August and my partner will be starting a PhD program); we are both law-abiding, tax-paying, contributing members of American society.
We pay the same taxes all Americans pay, but because my state amended its Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, we cannot receive the same rights and benefits from our secular government as heterosexual couples do. The state continues to give special rights to straight, married couples. Meanwhile MY taxes help subsidize those straight marriages.
Senator Eichelberger, you and I have never met. You know nothing about me, my relationship or my family. You have no right to say my relationship is "dysfunctional".
Your words are both uninformed and hurtful. Years ago, I would respond to comments such as yours by offering informational resources. It is known that homosexuality is common through the natural world; the scientific consensus is that sexual orientation is not a "choice" or a "mental illness", that it is is well within the natural spectrum of human sexuality, and that gay relationships and parents are no better or worse than straight ones, which is a fact supported by all relevant data and endorsed by every reputable health and medical organization in this country including the American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics. I would also attempt to provoke sympathy by pointing out that gay teens are still disproportionately likely to commit suicide, and every year LGBT people are targeted with violence. Comments such as yours contribute to a culture of anti-gay intolerance that causes unimaginable pain and suffering to millions of Americans, especially young people.
Yes, in the past I would attempt to reason with and educate people like you. However, sadly, I have found that people who are prejudiced toward an entire group of Americans without knowing anything about them will rarely, if ever, be persuaded to re-examine their own beliefs at the behest of complete strangers. Personal growth of this magnitude usually requires direct contact with a close friend or family member who comes out as gay, a fact which is also supported by sociological data.
With that in mind, rather than attempt to educate you about a subject you clearly know nothing about, I will simply exercise my First Amendment right to tell you that I think you are a stupid, hateful moron and that your comments are an embarrassment to yourself and to our great nation. The world is changing and people like you are swiftly becoming irrelevant. The day all the backwards, ignorant homophobes left over from the last century are finally voted out of office cannot come soon enough.
Sincerely yours,
Ryan Grant Long
Posted by: Eshto | Jun 22, 2009 10:10:49 AM
I thought we got rid of Santorum. All I can think to say is every time these monsters open their hate hole it just shows the rest of the world how much hate crime laws are needed; how much marriage equity is needed; and so forth and so on.
So keep it up, Hitler, you're the best advertisement for Gay rights around.
Posted by: ichabod | Jun 22, 2009 10:10:51 AM
It's quite telling about the mindset of the Republican party and the Republican voter base when scumbags such as Eichelberger can be found in droves, relatively speaking in the Republican Party while you'd have to look really hard to find anyone even remotely as hateful in the Democratic party.
Posted by: Philip Wester | Jun 22, 2009 10:12:11 AM
Glad to see he can truely represent all of his constituents equally. So much for his Oath of Office... looks like he has never felt the sting of discrimination for one day in his useless life!
Posted by: GW | Jun 22, 2009 10:17:36 AM
"but there’s no reason to give them special consideration"
What he's saying, of course, doesn't even make sense. By singling gay couples out for discrimination, that is giving them "special consideration." Equality means giving us the same consideration as straight couples. The good news is views like his will be increasingly marginalized, so if he wants to be a dinosaur, he can keep speaking.
Posted by: Ernie | Jun 22, 2009 10:21:37 AM
Fantastic letter, Mr. Long. I applaud you, sir.
Posted by: ichabod | Jun 22, 2009 10:31:52 AM
Eshto/ Ryan -- that was a great letter. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: tjc | Jun 22, 2009 10:32:08 AM
My comment, send via Eichelberger's Web site:
"If denying LGBT Americans marriage rights is not punishing them, would sterlizing you so you can't pass your bigoted genes on to another generation be punishing you? It would be for the good of the country, if not the world."
Posted by: MikeMick | Jun 22, 2009 10:34:33 AM
This bitch must be from that 'Bama part of Pennsylvania.
Posted by: Chitown Kev | Jun 22, 2009 10:40:15 AM
How come nobody's defending him? What happened to all those people who were switching to the Republican party because Obama hasn't delivered on DOMA & DADT yet? Those who said "I'd rather at least know they hate me" --- here ya go! Eichelberger's your man!
Posted by: KevinVT | Jun 22, 2009 10:42:11 AM