DECLARATION OF CIVIL EQUALITY

July 24th Marriage Celebration in NYC, Celebrate LOVE not the HATE of NOM, & Friends!

2011-07-19T16:39:00.002-04:00

Here it is..... July 24th, Celebrate the First Marriages here in NY at City Hall Clerks office. Check out the link Here.

Time	Sunday, July 24 · 7:30am - 4:30pm

Location	The City of New York Office of The City Clerk Marriage License Bureau 141 Worth Street (Outside)



For	Marriage Equality New York - NYC Chapter (MENY-NYC)

More Info	Please join MENY as we celebrate this joyous and historic day, and support New York's very first Gay and Lesbian couples to legally tie the knot. Come on down. Bring signs to show support. Cheer on the Happy Couples. Help us make their day extra special. This day will be certain to attract the media, so let's show the world what a celebration is all about. You may even catch a bouquet! _____________________________________________________________________ WE ALSO NEED SUPPORTERS IN QUEENS! Same celebration, different borough. Queens Office-Borough Hall Building 120-55 Queens Boulevard Kew Gardens, NY (Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike Station on the E and F lines)

NEW YORK CITY MARRIAGE EQUALITY CELEBRATION. JULY 24TH.

2011-07-17T19:45:00.003-04:00

The excitement is mounting in all of New York. On July 24th, will be the first day that Same Sex Couples will be able to tie-the-knot and make it official. Many have waited along time for this. A resident of Dumbo, in Brooklyn said, "I've waited 14 years for this moment, I finally get to marry my partner and wife"

Yes, There will be Judges on hand, New York Times reported: "As one of several dozen judges across the state who have volunteered to play an official role in marriage equality’s first day in New York state, Justice Thomas Raffaele is part of one of the most unusual judicial mobilizations in years. From Buffalo to the Bronx and pretty much everywhere else in New York, judges are signing up for rare Sunday duty." “I’ve heard there are a lot of people who are very excited,” Sherry Klein Heitler of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said she was expecting something of a party at the city clerk’s office. “I think there will be a lot of people,” Justice Heitler said. “I think there will be a lot of emotion. I think there will be a lot of happy tears.” They will be there to wave the 24 hour waiting period, and even perform some of the marriages if necessary.

To accommodate increased demand after the Marriage Equality Act takes effect, the City Clerk is offering extended hours the week of July 24th, 2011 for all offices as follows: Special Hours:

Sunday, July 24, 2011: 8:30am-4:30pm, 141 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013

Yet others, on this day have other plans, Senator Rev. Diaz has organized on July 24th at 3PM a March for Marriage with National Organization for Marriage to be held outside Governor Andrew Cuomo’s midtown office at 633 Third Avenue. from there where will they go, no one has any idea, but their plan, is to hijack the significance of this day to spread their anti-same sex marriage hate.

Those wanting to celebrate this day, and show their support are suggested to organize outside the City Clerks office and show their support for all those getting married. This will be a great day to show those getting married they have the support of New Yorkers.

Ron Zacchi of Marriage Equality New York reports that they are working on a celebration cruise that night, http://www.meny.us/seatea. Check the link to purchase tickets,

Here it is..... July 24th, Celebrate the First Marriages here in NY at City Hall Clerks office. Check out the link Here.

Time	Sunday, July 24 · 7:30am - 4:30pm

Location	The City of New York Office of The City Clerk Marriage License Bureau 141 Worth Street (Outside)



For	Marriage Equality New York - NYC Chapter (MENY-NYC)

More Info	Please join MENY as we celebrate this joyous and historic day, and support New York's very first Gay and Lesbian couples to legally tie the knot. Come on down. Bring signs to show support. Cheer on the Happy Couples. Help us make their day extra special. This day will be certain to attract the media, so let's show the world what a celebration is all about. You may even catch a bouquet! _____________________________________________________________________ WE ALSO NEED SUPPORTERS IN QUEENS! Same celebration, different borough. Queens Office-Borough Hall Building 120-55 Queens Boulevard Kew Gardens, NY (Kew Gardens-Union Turnpike Station on the E and F lines)

JULY 24th, A Day To Celebrate, A Day To Show We Are Love ~ Not Hate!

2011-07-14T21:30:00.003-04:00

Sunday, July 24th will be a great day for me and my husband. It will be a day that we will be able to Marry, along with hundreds of others. We are recommitting our original marriage performed in Massachusetts in 2008, because we wish to join all those celebrating all the hard work of so many in New York. This will be such a great day for America. Many from across this country will be watching what we do this day.

There will definitely be a buzz in the air. One "of the volunteer judges, Sherry Klein Heitler of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, said she was expecting something of a party at the city clerk’s office. “I think there will be a lot of people,” Justice Heitler said. “I think there will be a lot of emotion. I think there will be a lot of happy tears.” New York Times.

But there will be those out there, wishing to use "OUR" day of celebration as an opportunity to circumvent this great day and make it a day of hate. Senator Diaz "has invited Archbishop Dolan and Bishop DiMarzio in an open letter to join him in support of marriage at a rally in New York City organized by the National Organization for Marriage (NOM)." Joe.my.god reported, "NOM has announced that it will hold anti-gay hate rallies around New York state on Sunday, July 24th – the first day of legalized same-sex marriage. Will they dare appear at Manhattan’s city clerk office?" Their goal? To overshadow all the great things of that day and make it a day to promote their cause across America.

In recent days, Ron Zacchi, Executive Director, of Marriage Equality New York, has informed me that they will have people located at locations in Rochester, Albany, Buffalo and New York City. Which was great to hear, But, I then started to think about all those who will getting married that day, Like myself. Wouldn't it be great to have a great celebration outside the Office of the City Clerk, 141 Worth Street, New York City, in the park across the Street and on the steps of City Hall. Music, Performers, Political Speakers, and all the supporters who made this day possible.

I call upon all those organizations who made this day possible, take the initiative, and help make this day a day of celebration, a great day to overshadow those who wish to make it a day of hate. This day should be a day of activism and show Americans what a great place New York is to get married! What happens in New York has an effect on the rest of the country

Please pass this message to all who wish to make a difference.

JULY 24TH 2011 CALL FOR ACTION & MARRIAGE EQUALITY CELEBRATION

2011-07-10T17:46:00.004-04:00

July 24th 2011, will be an exceptional day for many in the State of New York. It will be the first day that they will be able to celebrate the opportunity to join in Union as married couples. The City of New York, has recognized how special this day will be by opening city hall on that day to perform marriages, New York City offices will open at 8:30 a.m. on July 24, which is a Sunday, just so gay couples can get married the moment the new law goes into effect. (even) Mayor Michael Bloomberg will officiate at the wedding of two of his employees on that day. That day will also be the day where, like many, I will be able to marry my partner of 8 years in New York. This will be a great day for many New Yorkers. For years many of us have fought for this day. It will be one that we will remember the rest of our lives. Finally we will be able to be equal citizens in the State of New York.

Along with Senator Saland, Senator Grisanti courageously stood for what was right, he said, "I cannot legally come up with an argument against same-sex marriage,” Grisanti said. “Who can say, legally, that they don’t have the same rights that I have with my wife?" Many Senators, thought hard and long about the issue of Marriage Equality and what was right and just for Many New Yorkers. These senators looked past the threats of outside organizations, and did what was right. Governor Cuomo said, "New York has finally torn down the barrier that has prevented same-sex couples from exercising the freedom to marry and from receiving the fundamental protections that so many couples and families take for granted,"

Yet, on July 24th, there will be those, National Organization for Marriage (NOM) along with anti-gay, Senator Rev. Diaz, "announced the rallies Friday on its website. Protests are so far being planned in Albany, Rochester, Buffalo and New York City," is to use this day as an opportunity to spread their misinformation and hate while tarnishing this day for those getting married.

I would like to take this opportunity to call out to many in New Yorkers, organizations, Churches, Choirs, and Political figures, who have fought so long for this great day to arrive, to ask for one more day of activism. This day, should be a great day of celebration, where many voices come together and drown out the voices of NOM and Senator Rev. Diaz. I call upon all the organizations of Marriage Equality to rally outside The City Clerks Office, Marriage Bureau,141 Worth Street, New York, NY 10013 and other corresponding locations in Albany, Rochester and Buffalo.

It is important that this day be set as an example of celebration for all those getting married and those who have worked so hard for this day to come.

Please Forward this information.

NOMS attempt ts diminish their opponents as "crazies" will also backfire,l

2011-04-29T23:33:00.002-04:00

NOM has chosen a direction in the debate of marriage Equality to that of representing their opponents as heartless thugs without soul or common sense. Louis Martinelli, strategist & former DOM insider and organizer of the SUMMER OF HATE TOUR, has said their approach was to discredit the marriage equality activist by obtaining photos that showed them in a strange light. Marry Gahllager, also leader of NOM is attempting to start their new plan of attack and sympathizing with those moderates that NOM are "religious victims" defending family values from the hordes of progressive marriage equality supporters.. They Play the solely low card and they play it successfully who maintain their religious values superseded over the values of others, This Virtual Hate Group, has one opportunistic.approach excite tempers, muddle the clear cut goals of the Marriage Equality with outdated religious dogma that many with simple thought, can associate with and feel threatened.

The battle for the Hearts and Minds of the many opened minded Americans is to be direct. Clear cut in Public.Relations scenarios and consistently rebuke NOMs statement with statements of facts. Freedom to Marry and the Coalition of New Yorkers for Marriage, should organize on Facebook, Twitter, and the standard press the answers to the misinformation that NOM is spreading. Examples of rights and privileges obtained through marriage with pictures of good looking couples. Posters showing couples saying, we were married in MASS., WHERE we could see a future protected. Why not in NEW YORK STATE?

We need a unified movement to forward the facts that New Yorkers can relate to. The religious side should be a poster of all the clerics, priests, rabbis and faithful leaders who support MARRIAGE EQUALITY. Simply saying WE DO! Marriage Equality NOW in NY

Lets get moving now and take action to move this forward now.

The Philadelphia Inquirer:

2009-11-16T20:30:00.005-05:00

OPINION
Posted Sun, November 1, 2009

E-mail David Boies at dboies@bsfllp.com.

Yes: It is a fundamental right under the U.S. Constitution.

David Boies

is the chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner in New York

In the debate over gay marriage there are two related but distinct questions.

One question is whether people believe, for religious or other reasons, that people of the same sex should not fall in love and marry each other; many people have strong and sincere beliefs on each side of this question.

The second question is whether state laws prohibiting persons of the same sex from marrying each other violate the equal-protection and due-process clauses of the U.S. Constitution; this is the question that former Solicitor General Ted Olson and I are now litigating in our case to overturn California's Proposition 8, which prohibits gay marriage in that state.

People's personal views of the appropriateness of same-sex relationships naturally influence their views of our lawsuit. However, it is important to remember that the legal question does not, and under our Constitution cannot, depend on people's personal preferences.

The constitutional issue is quite simple. The Supreme Court repeatedly has held that the right to marry the person of your choice is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the equal-protection and due-process clauses of the Constitution:

In 1967, in Loving v. Virginia, a unanimous court overturned the laws of more than 20 states that at the time prohibited interracial marriage.

In 1978, the Supreme Court, in Zablocki v. Redhail, vacated as unconstitutional (by an 8-1 vote) a Wisconsin law preventing child-support scofflaws from getting married. The court emphasized, "Decisions of this court confirm that the right to marry is of fundamental importance for all individuals."

In 1987, in Turner v. Safley, the court, in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, struck down as unconstitutional a Missouri law preventing imprisoned felons from marrying, holding that marriages were "expressions of emotional support and public commitment. These elements are an important and significant aspect of the marital relationship."

In 2003, Lawrence v. Texas held that states could not constitutionally outlaw consensual homosexual activity. In his dissenting opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia noted that the court's ruling undermined the rationale for any state limitations on gay marriage.

There are five basic arguments that are made to support state prohibitions. First, it is argued that the prohibitions are the result of the democratic process. This is true but irrelevant to the constitutional question. The purpose of constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process is to limit the power of the majority to restrict minority rights.

Second, it is argued tautologically that marriage by definition is between a man and a woman. That is the question, and a circular answer does not advance the analysis. In fact, marriage is not, and has not been, limited to persons of different sexes. Not only are there historical examples, but there are a number of states in this country (including Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and California before the passage of Proposition 8) and a number of foreign nations (including countries as Catholic as Spain, as different as Sweden and South Africa, and as near as Canada) that have embraced gay and lesbian marriage.

Third, it is argued that same-sex marriages are inconsistent with religious teachings. As a Christian, I would disagree. (See Matthew 22:35-40.) As a lawyer, it is irrelevant. The First Amendment guarantees the right of religious opponents of gay marriage to express their personal disapproval of such unions and the right of churches that forbid same-sex marriages not to perform them. But the same First Amendment, as well as the due-process and equal-protection clauses, precludes anyone from using state law to enforce his or her religious beliefs on others.

Fourth, it is sometimes argued that permitting gays and lesbians to marry will somehow undermine heterosexual marriage. There is no evidence that this is so, and contrary evidence from places where same-sex marriage is permitted. Moreover, it is difficult to the point of impossibility to envision two heterosexuals in love deciding not to marry, or to get a divorce depending on whether their gay neighbors are permitted to marry.

Fifth, it is argued that it has "always" been true that gays and lesbians have been prohibited from marrying. As already noted, this has not been, and is not, true. Moreover, as Justice Anthony M. Kennedy elegantly wrote inLawrence v. Texas, rejecting the notion that a history of discrimination might trump constitutional rights:

"Times can blind us to certain truths and later generations can see that laws once thought necessary and proper in fact serve only to oppress. As the Constitution endures, persons in every generation can invoke its principles in their own search for greater freedom."

Marriage Equality and Religious Opposition,

2009-11-12T02:23:00.005-05:00

A note to New York State Senators:

"In a free government, the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects." Alexander Hamilton

Those who say they are apposed to Marriage Equality on religious grounds, do so at the exclusion of others. They wish to use intimmidation and threats to sway your position. Who is to say one persons religious values or liberties supersede those of another? Does the Roman Catholic's opinion/belief supersede that of the Reformed/Orthodox Jewish faith? Does the Muslim supersede that of the Agnostic? Or even the Evangelical Reverend supersede the Episcopalian? As an Episcopalian it is my firm conviction that it is my constitutional right and religious liberty to have Marriage Equality. So what legislator can honestly say one's civll and religous values superseede another? That is why, the principle of separation of Church and State is paramount under our form of government and the legislators responsibility to administer their position solely in regards to a civil perspective and vote in favor of Marriage Equality.

Motivational Inspiration

2009-11-05T09:38:00.005-05:00

Bishop John Shelby Spong is the retired American bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of Newark (based in Newark, New Jersey). He is a Christian theologian, Biblical scholar, religion commentator and author. He promotes traditionally liberal causes, such as racial equality. He also calls for a fundamental rethinking of Christian belief, away from what he defines as theism and from the afterlife as reward or punishment for human behavior.

October 15, 2009

A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!

I have made a decision. I will no longer debate the issue of homosexuality in the church with anyone. I will no longer engage the biblical ignorance that emanates from so many right-wing Christians about how the Bible condemns homosexuality, as if that point of view still has any credibility. I will no longer discuss with them or listen to them tell me how homosexuality is "an abomination to God," about how homosexuality is a "chosen lifestyle," or about how through prayer and "spiritual counseling" homosexual persons can be "cured." Those arguments are no longer worthy of my time or energy. I will no longer dignify by listening to the thoughts of those who advocate "reparative therapy," as if homosexual persons are somehow broken and need to be repaired. I will no longer talk to those who believe that the unity of the church can or should be achieved by rejecting the presence of, or at least at the expense of, gay and lesbian people. I will no longer take the time to refute the unlearned and undocumentable claims of certain world religious leaders who call homosexuality "deviant." I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that "we love the sinner but hate the sin." That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women and homosexual persons with what it assumes is "high-sounding, pious rhetoric." The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn't. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to "Roll on over or we'll roll on over you!" Time waits for no one.

I will particularly ignore those members of my own Episcopal Church who seek to break away from this body to form a "new church," claiming that this new and bigoted instrument alone now represents the Anglican Communion. Such a new ecclesiastical body is designed to allow these pathetic human beings, who are so deeply locked into a world that no longer exists, to form a community in which they can continue to hate gay people, distort gay people with their hopeless rhetoric and to be part of a religious fellowship in which they can continue to feel justified in their homophobic prejudices for the rest of their tortured lives. Church unity can never be a virtue that is preserved by allowing injustice, oppression and psychological tyranny to go unchallenged.

In my personal life, I will no longer listen to televised debates conducted by "fair-minded" channels that seek to give "both sides" of this issue "equal time." I am aware that these stations no longer give equal time to the advocates of treating women as if they are the property of men or to the advocates of reinstating either segregation or slavery, despite the fact that when these evil institutions were coming to an end the Bible was still being quoted frequently on each of these subjects. It is time for the media to announce that there are no longer two sides to the issue of full humanity for gay and lesbian people. There is no way that justice for homosexual people can be compromised any longer.

I will no longer act as if the Papal office is to be respected if the present occupant of that office is either not willing or not able to inform and educate himself on public issues on which he dares to speak with embarrassing ineptitude. I will no longer be respectful of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who seems to believe that rude behavior, intolerance and even killing prejudice is somehow acceptable, so long as it comes from third-world religious leaders, who more than anything else reveal in themselves the price that colonial oppression has required of the minds and hearts of so many of our world's population. I see no way that ignorance and truth can be placed side by side, nor do I believe that evil is somehow less evil if the Bible is quoted to justify it. I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable.

I make these statements because it is time to move on. The battle is over. The victory has been won. There is no reasonable doubt as to what the final outcome of this struggle will be. Homosexual people will be accepted as equal, full human beings, who have a legitimate claim on every right that both church and society have to offer any of us. Homosexual marriages will become legal, recognized by the state and pronounced holy by the church. "Don't ask, don't tell" will be dismantled as the policy of our armed forces. We will and we must learn that equality of citizenship is not something that should ever be submitted to a referendum. Equality under and before the law is a solemn promise conveyed to all our citizens in the Constitution itself. Can any of us imagine having a public referendum on whether slavery should continue, whether segregation should be dismantled, whether voting privileges should be offered to women? The time has come for politicians to stop hiding behind unjust laws that they themselves helped to enact, and to abandon that convenient shield of demanding a vote on the rights of full citizenship because they do not understand the difference between a constitutional democracy, which this nation has, and a "mobocracy," which this nation rejected when it adopted its constitution. We do not put the civil rights of a minority to the vote of a plebiscite.

I will also no longer act as if I need a majority vote of some ecclesiastical body in order to bless, ordain, recognize and celebrate the lives and gifts of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church. No one should ever again be forced to submit the privilege of citizenship in this nation or membership in the Christian Church to the will of a majority vote.

The battle in both our culture and our church to rid our souls of this dying prejudice is finished. A new consciousness has arisen. A decision has quite clearly been made. Inequality for gay and lesbian people is no longer a debatable issue in either church or state. Therefore, I will from this moment on refuse to dignify the continued public expression of ignorant prejudice by engaging it. I do not tolerate racism or sexism any longer. From this moment on, I will no longer tolerate our culture's various forms of homophobia. I do not care who it is who articulates these attitudes or who tries to make them sound holy with religious jargon.

I have been part of this debate for years, but things do get settled and this issue is now settled for me. I do not debate any longer with members of the "Flat Earth Society" either. I do not debate with people who think we should treat epilepsy by casting demons out of the epileptic person; I do not waste time engaging those medical opinions that suggest that bleeding the patient might release the infection. I do not converse with people who think that Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans as punishment for the sin of being the birthplace of Ellen DeGeneres or that the terrorists hit the United Sates on 9/11 because we tolerated homosexual people, abortions, feminism or the American Civil Liberties Union. I am tired of being embarrassed by so much of my church's participation in causes that are quite unworthy of the Christ I serve or the God whose mystery and wonder I appreciate more each day. Indeed I feel the Christian Church should not only apologize, but do public penance for the way we have treated people of color, women, adherents of other religions and those we designated heretics, as well as gay and lesbian people.

Life moves on. As the poet James Russell Lowell once put it more than a century ago: "New occasions teach new duties, Time makes ancient good uncouth." I am ready now to claim the victory. I will from now on assume it and live into it. I am unwilling to argue about it or to discuss it as if there are two equally valid, competing positions any longer. The day for that mentality has simply gone forever.

This is my manifesto and my creed. I proclaim it today. I invite others to join me in this public declaration. I believe that such a public outpouring will help cleanse both the church and this nation of its own distorting past. It will restore integrity and honor to both church and state. It will signal that a new day has dawned and we are ready not just to embrace it, but also to rejoice in it and to celebrate it.

– John Shelby Spong

Religious Freedoms.....

2009-10-18T16:48:00.006-04:00

Recently I am hearing from many of the Conservative churches, the Roman Catholic Church for one, that their recent opposition to same-sex marriage is that it is against their religious liberties to allow same sex marriage. The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady said that same sex marriage was, "an alarming attack on the fundamental principle of freedom of religion and conscience." Now LDS apostle Dallin H. Oaks calling out to Mormons to continue the fight against gay marriage says ''We must insist on our constitutional right and duty to exercise our religion", Even some Marriage Equality activists are trying to side-step the issue of religious liberties by not addressing the issue at all and trying to find some sort of middle ground.

As an Episcopalian, my church (2 million members strong) this past summer, as many other denominations, (the United Church of Christ, Metropolitan Community Churches, and Orthodox & Reform Jewish faiths), are now including same sex marriage rites. I was recently married in the Episcopal Church and blessed by the Church. I do not believe that religious liberties are solely held by those of the fundamental faiths, but rather by all. That is why it is my firm conviction that it is against my fundamental principles of freedom of religion and conscience and against my constitutional right and duty to exercise my religion not to have same-sex marriages.

I recently saw a poster held by a young marcher, in Washington D.C. at the National Equality March that said "What would Jesus do? Really!". It made me think.... As he, Jesus, angrily tore through the temples, casting out the money changers, I think he would do the same for those who preach inequality. My faith is one based on love and acceptance not bigotry, religious dogma, or hate.

It is also interesting to see how the fears of the conservative right about the future of marriage has not come to fruition. Recent statistics are showing to be quite the contrary. In a recent article, Divorce Rate in Gay Marriage-Legal MA Drops To Pre-WWII Level (1), it shows that the resent divorce rates in Massachusetts have fallen to levels lowest in the country. It is easy to attribute those statistics to the value that many are holding to those civil liberties. Those believing that same-sex marriages would destroy the institution of marriage are really not saying so because of how the feel about the sanctity of marriage but more out of their hatred for same-sex couples. If they were really so adamant about the demise of marriage they would freely be accepting those same sex-marriage couples and strongly apposing the institution of divorce.

The Marriage Equality battle, should not be placed on the table of mediation by marriage equality activists or anyone for that matter, but as an equality issue of civil equality and religious liberties.