The Constitution is designed to ensure that minority groups are legally protected even though there are not as many of them to defend their rights at the ballot box. The Constitution also provides very specifically for a separation of church and state in the First Amendment. It is time for these Constitutional rights to be applied to the members of our society who are being marginalized and are not being allowed to commit to each other in the eyes of the law.
It is possible to be on offense without being offensive, and that is how we will win equal rights for ourselves and for our loved ones. There are a number of misinformed citizens out there who have been misled by their civic and religious leaders (please refer to the myth-busting section). This is particularly unfortunate because there are a number of religious, conservative citizens who either support the rights of same-sex couples to marry as long as it doesn’t interfere with their church or they support civil unions and would also like to see the government remove itself from the marriage process.
On this site, there will be resources to help educate people on both sides of this issue understand the we do, in fact, share a very important piece of common ground. If both sides can communicate evenly, calmly, respectfully and factually, we may find that we can all agree on this one thing. If we move forward with the belief that we can change minds, one at a time, all the anger and pain and frustration will be behind us forever.
ALLorNotAtAll will reach out to anyone on either side of the liberal/conservative divide who is interested in seeing that everyone is treated equally and fairly in the eyes of the law.
A man named James Russell Lowell once said: “All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single, lovely action.” Let us all unite and leave the sentiments behind and move forward into action.
