DUBBO student Nicholas Steepe is not in a hurry to walk down the aisle.
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But he wants to know he can when the time comes.
For that reason the young man is taking a public stand on the issue of marriage equality, despite a hectic schedule involving study, work and a commitment to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) community.
Right now he's enrolled in a Bachelor of Social Work at the Charles Sturt University Dubbo Campus and working in the mental health sector.
The 20-year-old also plays a pivotal role in the Rainbow Alliance, a branch of the NSW Connected Communities Project, aimed at providing support and reducing social isolation for LGBTI members of the Dubbo community and its surrounding area.
He was in the middle of planning a trivia night for the alliance that welcomes LGBTI supporters when prompted to speak up for himself and others.
Alliance members had taken to social media to reject Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson's view that the issue of marriage equality in Dubbo was "almost irrelevant" because no one was banging on about it.
Mr Steepe, a resident of Dubbo for half of his young life, squeezed a visit to the Daily Liberal into his lunch break.
With food containers in hand and the clock ticking, he got straight to the point.
"I don't plan on getting married anytime soon. I am quite young," he said.
"But the simple fact is if I chose to, I couldn't.
"It's like my love is unequal to that of heterosexual couples and that makes me feel like I don't have a right to love and marry who I want.
"That's not very fair in my opinion."
Mr Steepe views marriage equality as a "human rights issue" and despite the current political obstacles to marriage reform, is confident that public opinion will eventually sway legislators.
Australian Marriage Equality has reported of 72 per cent of surveyed Australians supporting same-sex marriage as of 2014.
A poll on marriage equality was conducted by the Daily Liberal after publication of Cr Dickerson's comments on March 28.
The poll question was "Do you believe marriage equality should be high on the political agenda?". Yesterday morning, 224 people or 83.9 per cent of respondents had voted "yes" and 43 people or 16.1 per cent had voted "no". About 165 people turned out to the Rainbow Alliance trivia night in Dubbo.
