VIDEO: Marriage Equality & Religion - The Massachusetts Experience

Empire State Pride Agenda is gearing up for the brewing battle in New York state over marriage equality. It is critical in such a campaign to frame the debate first and to steer the conversation.

They are prepared for the arguments by the religious right-wing, and in order to silence the religious debate before it even sets in, they have released the following:

One of the most dominant myths used by forces opposed to marriage equality is that allowing same-sex couples to marry would somehow negatively affect religious institutions or apply restrictions to their freedom to worship as they choose.

Although this myth is patently false, that has not stopped some opponents from using the claim to lead people to believe their religious freedom is in danger. Fortunately, in New York, we do not need to speculate on how religious institutions, spiritual life and the freedom to worship will be affected if the state passes a law allowing same-sex couples to marry. New York needs only to look to our neighbor to the east, Massachusetts — where marriages for same-sex couples have been legal since 2004 — to see that the worries about such a law negatively impacting people of faith have been unfounded.