As the battle for gay marriage continues to rage in Hawaii, one lawmaker took to the floor last week to offer an incredible argument in favor of marriage rights for same-sex couples.
Rep. Kaniela Ing (D - South Maui) not only delivered an inspiring nine-minute speech in favor of marriage equality in the Aloha State, but he took listeners on a journey through his own self-discovery and realization of why rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals are so important.
Ing invoked the impact of Matthew Shepard's murder on his childhood perceptions of gay people and then completely destroyed the "gay lifestyle" argument that anti-LGBT policymakers have been attempting to fall back on throughout the legislative debate.
"If we want to understand this or any gay rights issue," Ing states in the above video, "we need to understand the LGBT experience. Many of us just can't grasp what it would be like... would you wish homosexuality upon your own kids? So I really thought about this. If the 'gay lifestyle' they speak of pertains to the highly successful physicians, attorneys, economists, world-renowned microbiologists and psychologists that we've seen testify... then, hey, sign me up. I'll take three."
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