Gay marriage and eligibility for office aren't remotely comparable. There is nothing in the US Constitution that explicitly denies marriage to any class of peop

Gay marriage and eligibility for office aren't remotely comparable. There is nothing in the US Constitution that explicitly denies marriage to any class of people, therefore the 14th amendment can claim to be applicable, whereas the Constitution specifically sets 35 as the minimum age to be appointed as president, and this has never been repealed. Nor is there any chance that the so-called originalists who make up our current Supreme Court would reject an explicit limitation in the Constitution for an uncertain interpretation of the language in the 14th amendment. On top of which, the position that the 14th amendment prohibits discrimination is not accurate. (Even the ADEA itself only prohibits age discrimination against individuals 40 and older.) The 14th amendment merely requires that the government have a good reason to discriminate. See McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961) for starters, wherein it was stated that, "The Fourteenth Amendment permits the States a wide scope for discretion in enacting laws which affect some groups of citizens differently than others. The Constitutional safeguard is offended only if the classification rests on grounds wholly irrelevant to the achievement of the State's objective. State legislatures are presumed to have acted within their constitutional power despite the fact that, in practice, their laws result in some inequality." In particular, age related laws generally fall under the "rational basis" standard. Meaning, that the scrutiny of such laws is not as strict as gender and religion related discrimination, but just entails some "rational basis" by the state for the law to pass constitutional muster. One can see this looking by at various policies set by the Federal government. People under 62 may not apply for Social Security Retirement. People over 26 are not covered under the their parents' policies in the Affordable Care Act. Children under 5 can ride WMATA for free in DC.