So, often the debate about same-sex marriage claims to be one that has religion and the faith community one side and the LGBT community on the other. Leaders of faith all across the country are debunking that myth and explaining how their faith and belief in the scriptures leaders to support same-sex marriage. Rev. Dennis W. Wiley, a Baptist minister, and Robert M. Hardies, a Unitarian minster, detail in the The Washington Post detail how their belief in fight injustice is their guide to support same-sex marriage.

Our solidarity exposes two of the myths perpetuated by opponents of marriage equality and by the media. Let’s call these myths “God vs. gay” and “black vs. white.”

Opponents of marriage equality would like us to believe that one cannot be both pro-God and pro-gay. Yet we lead a coalition of nearly 200 D.C. clergy who support marriage equality precisely because of our commitment to God’s inclusive love and justice. Our clergy are black, white, Latino and from every ward in the District. We are Baptists and Jews, Catholics and Methodists, who have worked side by side for years on issues ranging from peace to affordable housing, and who now stand together again to raise a faithful voice for justice. Let us be clear: God vs. gay is a myth we reject. God vs. injustice is a truth we affirm.

Meanwhile, opponents of marriage equality have tried to use this issue to divide our communities along racial lines, and the press often plays into their hands. The gay community is repeatedly characterized as a group of well-to-do white folks, while all people of color are portrayed as heterosexuals who oppose gay marriage. This is the myth of “black vs. white.” To suggest that the struggle for marriage equality in Washington affects only a small number of white people from Dupont Circle is an affront to the rich diversity of the District’s gay and lesbian community, and it erases the lives of thousands of gay and lesbian people of color, some of whom are members of our churches.

David Boies, the attorney who is part of a bi-partisan effort to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage, writes an excellent counter-offensive to opponents of marriage equality in the Wall Street Journal.

The occasional suggestion that marriages between people of different sexes may somehow be threatened by marriages of people of the same sex does not withstand discussion. It is difficult to the point of impossibility to envision two love-struck heterosexuals contemplating marriage to decide against it because gays and lesbians also have the right to marry; it is equally hard to envision a couple whose marriage is troubled basing the decision of whether to divorce on whether their gay neighbors are married or living in a domestic partnership. And even if depriving lesbians of the right to marry each other could force them into marrying someone they do not love but who happens to be of the opposite sex, it is impossible to see how that could be thought to be as likely to lead to a stable, loving relationship as a marriage to the person they do love.

Moreover, there is no longer any credible contention that depriving gays and lesbians of basic rights will cause them to change their sexual orientation. Even if there was, the attempt would be constitutionally defective. But, in fact, the sexual orientation of gays and lesbians is as much a God-given characteristic as the color of their skin or the sexual orientation of their straight brothers and sisters. It is also a condition that, like race, has historically been subject to abusive and often violent discrimination. It is precisely where a minority’s basic human rights are abridged that our Constitution’s promise of due process and equal protection is most vital.

It is time to end discrimination against gays and lesbians and allow marriage rights for all.

The Bishops of the Episcopal Church have backed the blessing of gay and lesbian unions at their recent convention in Anaheim.

Mike Angell, who is studying to become an Episcopal priest at the Virginia Theological Seminary, said yesterday’s decision comes as a relief. “I have a number of friends — straight and gay — who requested me to perform their weddings once I’m ordained,” said Angell, who believes in equality for gay parishioners. “I would have felt limited and compromised blessing hetero couples but not gay couples. It’s an issue of justice.”

Regardless of how one church or another feels about blessing same-sex marriages, it is not up to the government to choose which religious marriages will get recognized by the state and which won’t.

Milford A. Decker of Utica, the president of Pride Among the Mokawk, argues that marriage equality isn’t just fair and right, it is also good politics, in a letter to the Syracuse Post-Standard.

We pay taxes, are good neighbors, co-workers, parents, church members and voters. We want the same things other citizens strive for: to be productive; seek loving, committed relationships; and to be full members of a society that values all of its diverse members.

States that have experimented with civil unions have found them lacking, creating a “caste system” of sub-citizens who are not equal. These distinctions caused a nightmare of bureaucratic paperwork, unnecessary if all had equal access to civil marriage.

If you believe in limited government and personal freedoms–true, conservative values–then it makes sense to back marriage rights for all couples!

The New York State Bar Association refined its position on recognizing same-sex couples to support marriage as the only viable way to treat such couples equally.

Now, having seen how couples in other states have been denied equal rights under domestic partnerships and civil unions, the group’s House of Delegates voted overwhelmingly in a voice vote of about 150 delegates to back marriage as the only equitable solution, said association president Michael E. Getnick. The delegates represent members in the state’s 13 judicial districts.

While civil unions or domestic partnerships grant many of the rights of marriage, only marriage equality can fully treat all couples the same.