PA Couple Wants to Overturn State's Gay Marriage Ban

A Pennsylvania couple filing suit with Federal District Court is hoping to overturn the state's ban on gay marriage.

According to a report from the New York Times, Pennsylvania's Deb and Susan Whitewood, along with the ACLU, have filed a suit that aims to allow the couple of 22 years to marry in the Keystone State.

“What we’re looking for is the validation from the legal system that we are equal in our marriage as anyone else,” said Susan Whitewood, 49, in an interview with the NY Times before a planned news conference to announce the suit at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.

State Sen. Daylin Leach released a statement on Tuesday in support of the Whitewoods.

"I applaud the ACLU, the other lawyers involved, and the plaintiffs for filing their lawsuit in Federal Court asserting a Federal Constitutional right to marry their same-sex partners," Leach said in an press release. "It is my hope that the cases filed today will not only prevail at trail, but will squarely present to the United States Supreme Court the question of whether discrimination may constitutionally exist anywhere in this nation."

Leach also said that he felt "our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, sons and daughters have been forced to live as second-class citizens … for too long."