Out of the mouths of the children- truth

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON -- Thursday starting at around 5PM, I watched the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee as it commenced a hearing on the two pending pieces of legislation that would grant same-sex couples in the state the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts.

In full disclosure, no, I didn't last all the way through till the bitter end some 12 hours later at 5AM and quite frankly, by 10:30PM I was barely interested as the non-stop parade of testifiers opposing the bills had worn me out with the constant tedious droning of negativity, vitriol, and outright lies.

But, earlier, I sat through an amazing bit of testimony, [which you may watch in the video below] by a sixth grade student defending his family.

What 12 year old Matthew Lannon told the assembled Senators including his aunt who was sitting on the dias, State Sen. Donna Nesselbush, had echoes of what another young man proclaimed as he too defended his family a couple years back before the entire Iowa House of Representatives.

"All they want is to be treated fairly. But unlike most of you, they have to come again here year after year and explain over and over why their love is equal to yours." Lannon said. "This year, you have the opportunity to change that. I say, choose love.”

Lannon testified that he has two moms and two dads who have been together for 14 years, telling the lawmakers;

"My parents, and all the other gay and lesbian people here, just want to be happy."

Two years ago, then 19 year old Zach Wahls spoke out against a House measure, which had it been enacted, would have disfranchised same-sex couples in his state.

"Our family really isn't so different from any other Iowa family," said Wahls. "When I am home, we go to church together, we eat dinner, we go on vacations."

Wahls hit a home run in most people's eyes who had later watched the YouTube video of his testimony when he told legislators;

"In my 19 years not once have I ever been confronted by an individual who realized independently that I was raised by a gay couple," he said. "And you know why? Because the sexual orientation of my parents has had zero effect on the content of my character."

Zach and Matthew are the perfect poster children for why marriage equality is needed. Unlike the arguments that I heard over and over again about the biblical reasons to deny same-sex couples their civil rights and full equality, which nearly all were based on the use of the human reproductive organs, [It's all about penises and vagina's with the opposition it seems.] Matthew and Zach eloquently articulate the real reason we need equality, 'love is love.'

I guess what pains me most, is that it is still necessary for kids like Matt, and young men like Zach, to have to worry about something they ought not, and that is the safety of their families, and the need to constantly defend them.

WATCH: