Louise Pratt's Tearful Speech on Marriage Equality in Australia

The big star in Monday's debate in Australia's Parliament over marriage equality was Labor Senator Louise Pratt, who broke down in tears while telling lawmakers that she was one of the "hundreds of thousands of Australian citizens who knows that the laws of our nation hold our capacity for love and for commitment to be lesser because of the gender of our partner."

Towleroad has a partial transcript of the pationate and eloquent speech by Pratt (whose partner is transgender) but the video itself -- in which the lawmmaker urges her peers to "take a look at Australia today" because the thousands of married same-sex couples who are living lives just like opposite-sex couples -- is even more moving.

The bill that Pratt was pushing, which would amend the Marriage Act to include same-sex couples, was defeated in Parliament yesterday.