The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on March 25 voted to codify marriage equality in state law — including with dozens of GOP votes — but the legislation now faces the Republican-controlled upper chamber.
The legislation would amend the state’s definition of “marriage” to “a civil contract between two individuals.” To this point, the definition has been described as “a civil contract by which one man and one woman take each other for husband and wife.”
The bill would also repeal a section of the law that declares, “It is hereby declared to be the strong and longstanding public policy of this Commonwealth that marriage shall be between one man and one woman. A marriage between persons of the same sex which was entered into in another state or foreign jurisdiction, even if valid where entered into, shall be void in this Commonwealth.”
The Democratic-controlled Pennsylvania House approved the legislation 127-72 and drew bipartisan support. The commonwealth’s GOP-led upper chamber, however, has 27 Republicans and 23 Democrats, leaving the bill’s future uncertain.
The legislation was championed by prominent out gay state lawmaker Malcolm Kenyatta, who carried the legislation in the lower house and attracted more than 50 co-sponsors.
Kenyatta, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, delivered an emotional speech on the floor as he argued in favor of the bill’s passage.
“I will object to my marriage in this vote being called symbolic,” Kenyatta said. “There is not a thing symbolic about the connection that I have and about the right that Pennsylvanians deserve to not live in constant fear that the union of their lives is in imminent danger.”
Kenyatta, acknowledging lawmakers’ tendency to cite religious objections to marriage equality, cited religious passages to explain his vote — and he sought to send a message that queer couples seek the same rights as straight couples.
“God did not make me to hate me,” Kenyatta said. “And he loves every single aspect of me, including the aspect of me that has made it known that I love a man and that I want that love recognized the same way you want it to be recognized.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, welcomed the bill’s passage in the House of Representatives.
“Here in Pennsylvania, we believe in your freedom to marry who you love,” Shapiro wrote on X. “Today, the House has stepped up to protect that right.”
