There has been a lot of attention given to religious leaders who want to block the rights of gays and lesbians to marry. But there is not just one Christian voice. I serve a multiracial, multicultural church in New York City's East Village. At Middle Collegiate Church, we believe God made all of us perfectly. God made gay people gay. And we believe that God smiles on love. Jesus himself summarized his teachings this way: love God with all you have and love your neighbor as yourself. Christians have been on the side of ending slavery, of ensuring women and African Americans the right to vote, of working for economic justice, and advocating for the welfare of children.

We've been singing songs from the civil rights movement this June in New York -- "We Shall Overcome," "This Little Light of Mine" -- from our sanctuary to City Hall. We have been singing, "I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, sit at the welcome table one of these days." And we have stood silently outside the Senate Chambers in Albany so our legislators are reminded that people of faith support this issue.