As the New York same-sex marriage equality battle heated up well-past Sunday afternoon’s 80 degree temperatures, Board President of Marriage Equality New York Cathy Marino-Thomas addressed the crowd of hundreds gathered by LGBT activist group Queer Rising in historic Union Square Park, with just a few hours notice. Titled the “Last Day Of Marriage Inequality,†an optimistic moniker in advance of a hopeful vote in the New York State Senate Monday, the rally featured other notable speakers, including civil rights attorney and former NYC City Council candidate Yetta Kurland, who is currently representing DADT activist Lt. Dan Choi in federal court.
READ: NY Marriage Equality: Lobbying Archbishop Calls Bill “Unjust, Immoral”
While no vote has been scheduled, activists are indeed hopeful Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will allow an up-​or-​down vote on Governor Cuomo’s same-​sex marriage equality bill on Monday, the official final day of this session of the State Senate.
“What our opponents do to us is disrespectful,” Marino-Thomas said. “To hear them say that our families are not equal to theirs is very hard to take.”
“The founding fathers of our great country believed in the separation of church and state, and they believed in it for us.”