Governor Tom Corbett is offering an apology after comments he made equating gay marriage with a relationship between a brother and sister.
Corbett made the statement during a TV interview Friday morning. Now groups across the country are starting to blast him for the comment.
It was questions about the recent court battle in Pennsylvania over gay marriage that led to the governor's controversial comment. In court his administration and its lawyers had compared gay marriage to 12 year olds who aren't allowed to wed in Pennsylvania.
WHP-TV in Harrisburg asked Governor Corbett about that.
"Reporter: "We already touched upon a controversial remark made by your legal team comparing gay marriage to the Union of 12 year olds saying both are illegal, which you called inappropriate." Governor Corbett: "It was an inappropriate analogy, you know, I think a much better analogy would have been brother and sister, don't you?"
Reporter: "I don't know. Ha ha ha. I don't know. Um, yeah"
That video clip is now being spread among democratic and gay rights groups around the country.
John Dawe, head of the northeastern Pennsylvania rainbow alliance had this to say about it.
"Honestly I'm not surprised, our Governor doesn't understand or just doesn't get it. He continually makes comparisons with same sex couples, with incest, last time he made comments like this he compared same sex marriage to marriage between 12 year olds," said Dawe.
Gay marriage has been a highly debated topic in the Keystone state recently. Only hours after the governor's comments came this apology.
"The comments I made have been taken by some to be insensitive, and if they've taken it that way, let me apologize right now. They were never meant to be insensitive to this issue," explained Corbett.
Corbett said he was focusing on the legal aspect of the court battle.
"Everybody misspeaks now and again, but gov has a track record of saying things that are offensive to the LGBT community. So I question a little bit of the apology whether it was heartfelt or politically motivated," said Dawe.
Despite a growing outcry to his comments, Governor Corbett insists he was merely making a legal analogy on how the law in Pennsylvania sees gay marriage.