I am for 100% equality across the board for everybody, in all

Hear now, O children of compassion and seekers of justice, the words of David Furnish, who declared: “I am for 100% equality across the board for everybody, in all walks of life.” These words, though modern in their sound, carry the heartbeat of an ancient truth — that the measure of a civilization lies not in the power of its kings or the wealth of its merchants, but in how it honors the worth of every soul beneath its sky. Furnish’s declaration is both a creed and a challenge: a vision of a world where no person stands above another, and where dignity, not difference, is the common inheritance of humankind.

To speak of 100% equality is to invoke the highest calling of the human spirit — a calling older than any law and deeper than any culture. It is to affirm that the light that burns within one being burns just as brightly within another, whether that being walks in palace halls or humble streets, whether they are young or old, rich or poor, male or female, or beyond such divisions. In this truth there is no hierarchy, no border, no caste. There is only the shared breath of creation. Furnish’s words remind us that equality is not a favor bestowed, but a truth rediscovered — a return to the divine order where all stand side by side as children of one origin.

Yet this belief, as simple as it sounds, has been humanity’s hardest lesson. For across the ages, men and women have divided themselves by color, creed, and custom; they have built walls to separate those deemed worthy from those deemed less. The ancient Greeks spoke of democracy, yet kept slaves; the Romans spoke of law, yet ruled by conquest; and in the modern world, nations that preach liberty often fail to live it fully. Thus, Furnish’s words ring like a call to repentance — a reminder that true equality is not achieved by proclamation but by transformation, both of systems and of hearts.

Consider the life of Nelson Mandela, who was cast into prison for twenty-seven years for daring to dream that the people of South Africa — black and white alike — could live as equals. When at last he emerged from the shadows, he did not seek vengeance but reconciliation. He taught that equality is not merely a struggle for power but a restoration of humanity. His forgiveness, born of suffering, became a bridge between worlds. Furnish’s vision walks in that same light — for equality across all walks of life is not the leveling of people, but the lifting of all into mutual respect.

And yet, equality demands courage. To embrace it fully — 100% — is to confront not only injustice in the world but the prejudice within oneself. It is easy to speak of fairness in the abstract; it is harder to practice it when the stranger’s need challenges our comfort, when another’s truth confronts our belief. But this is the task of the wise — to see beyond difference into unity, to honor in each person the reflection of the same eternal spark. Furnish’s conviction arises not from theory, but from lived compassion, from the understanding that the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, for racial justice, for gender equality, are not separate rivers, but tributaries of the same vast ocean of human dignity.

The ancients taught that justice is the balance of the soul, and that a society out of balance destroys itself from within. To strive for equality for all is to bring harmony where there was discord — to heal the fractures between classes and nations, between the privileged and the forgotten. It is to plant the seeds of peace in the soil of fairness. As the prophet once said, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” So too must the waters of equality flow, cleansing the world of arrogance and indifference.

Therefore, O listeners, take this teaching to heart: to live for equality is to live for truth. Look not upon others as rivals, but as mirrors; see in every face a fragment of your own. Defend not only your rights, but the rights of those who cannot speak. Let your words uplift, your actions include, your judgments be tempered with empathy. For a just world will not be handed down from the powerful — it will be built, heart by heart, by those who refuse to see anyone left behind.

And so, remember always: equality across all walks of life is not the dream of the weak, but the strength of the wise. It is the courage to treat every person — friend or stranger, rich or poor — as worthy of love and respect. When that truth reigns in every heart, then the divisions of this world shall fade, and humankind shall finally walk upright — not as conquerors, but as companions, bound by the unbreakable bond of our shared and sacred worth.