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Duncan McAlpine Sennett practices his Bar Mitzvah speech with Rabbi Joseph, who worked with him on the speech, and Cantor Cahana.

(Photo courtesy of Robin McAlpine)

A Portland teen has become an Internet sensation for using his Bar Mitzvah speech to support gay marriage.

A video of 13-year-old Duncan McAlpine Sennett's remarks had more than 72,000 views just six days after it was published on YouTube.

“I'm really just blown away, because I had no idea that it would get this big at all,” he said. “It feels really good.”

Duncan McAlpine Sennett on the day of his Bar Mitzvah.

Sennett, a student at da Vinci Arts Middle School, spoke on Nov. 9 to Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland as part of the traditional Jewish right of passage.

He was assigned to study and speak about a portion of the Torah, which consists of the first five books in the Hebrew Bible. Sennett’s passage, Genesis 28:10 to Genesis 32:3, details Jacob’s marriage to Leah and Rachel.

Gay marriage opponents often cite the Bible, Sennett said, saying gay marriage defies the Biblical definition of marriage: A union between one man and one woman. But in the Torah portion Sennett studied, Jacob marries two women, who also happened to be his first cousins, he said, and the women don’t have a say in the marriage.

“Today, in the United States, marriage is very different,” he said in his speech. “No longer do the fathers arrange marriages, and women can marry whoever they want.”

“The traditional definition of marriage is nothing like what we think it is today.”

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“The definition of traditional marriage has changed a lot since the days of the Torah,” Sennett said in his speech. “Why can’t it change just a little bit more so everybody can marry who they love?”

The congregation posted video of Sennett’s speech -- also known his d'var torah -- on YouTube a couple of weeks later, on Nov. 26.

"The next thing you knew it was on the Huff Post," said his mom, Robin McAlpine

The video has also made news on multiple gay and LGBTQ news sites. There are more than 100 comments on the video on YouTube. Some comments are hateful, Sennett said, but he isn't letting criticism get him down.

“I don't care,” Sennett said. “I'm not letting it affect me in any way.”

Sennett spent about a year preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, his mom said. He learned Hebrew, studied the Torah passage he was given and wrote his speech.

The family has lots of gay friends, she said, and her son has been attending gay weddings since he was a child. He attended a rally protesting Proposition 8, a constitutional ban on gay marriage in California, when they lived in Los Angeles a few years ago. Though only 13, he’s a strong supporter of gay rights.

“My son just grew up believing that's the way it should be,” she said.

The portion of the Torah he was assigned for his Bar Mitzvah speech just happened to relate, she said, and it was fun to watch him make the connection.

Sennett said the attention is exciting, but what matters most is that thousands of people have heard his message. He wants to continue to advocate for gay marriage, he said, but hopes that 10 years from now advocacy isn't necessary.

-- Melissa Binder