Well don't let me spoil it then...

Dave, equality globally cannot be achieved by me & thee. We members of the human race though accept that it doesn't mean you try to treat people equally where it is possible to do so. Judicial reasoning on each case on merit can throw out some howlers, but justice is overall blind, and those who compare cases for their own agenda have a rather warped view of justice.

The gay marriage bit is an excellent example. Nothing to stop people in love from getting married. I'm not gay and I haven't loved a bloke, fancied a bloke or shagged one, but as there is no reason why two lovers cannot commit to marriage, we now have chiselled a bit of equality. The fact that I cannot begin to see the attraction in that sense of a man is neither here nor there. it doesn't affect me so it doesn't matter. Each to their own.

There are some who still see gay people as second class citizens, but time always wins.

Some religious people want to see their restrictions imposed on others. Some non religious people want to see religious restrictions removed. Neither are supporting equality and neither can prevail. Democracy may not be the best system, after all it gives us the bloody government, but as nobody has come up with anything better, (and you would need, ironically, the democratic will of the people to remove it,) we are stuck with everybody having a bit of a say, however small. (We don't have full equality and never shall.)

Sorry for addressing this to you rather than to anyone else, but if I address this to the {person} above who states just there, at the top of your screen or scroll up a bit, yes - just there... that gay marriage isn't equal to something or other.. I'd have to disappoint Larry the Radio Guy, and by saying time always wins, I am sailing close to the wind as it is.