Comparison of two dates in if statement

Question

In my controller i try to compare two dates and if it tru return the error message.

Date Today = system.Today();
Date StartDateParsed = Date.parse(startdate);   
if(StartDateParsed <= Today){bring ERROR message}

the problem is when the conditional is true it works like it is false. In the debug it shows:

|DEBUG|StartdateP=2016-09-26 00:00:00Today=2016-09-26 00:00:00

Why it doen't work?

Upd:

date dt = system.Today();
String st = dt.format();
startDate = st; 

startDate = |DEBUG|startdate=9/26/2016

Upd 2 If i ran this code (And startDate < or = Today):

    if(StartDateParsed <= Today){ 
        System.debug ('True');
    } 
    else{
        System.debug('False');
    }

Debug is True

Upd 3 I have the another page messages that shows correctly:

if (context.Title == NULL){
            ApexPages.addmessage(new ApexPages.message(ApexPages.severity.ERROR,'Please select the Title for Contact'));
        }

but the next code doen't shows the error message at all

if (context.SelectedType == 'Planned' && numberDaysDue >= 0){
            ApexPages.addmessage(new ApexPages.message(ApexPages.severity.ERROR,'Please specify the future date'));
            system.debug('true');
        }

And the debug log says true. This Error message doesn't shows at all, but the rest messages shows fine.

Upd 4 VisualForce section Error messages:

<apex:outputPanel id="messages">
<apex:pageMessages />
</apex:outputPanel>

My save button:

<apex:commandButton id="save" value="Save" action="{!save}" style="padding: 5px;" status="nextActionStatus" reRender="messages,screens,buttons" rendered="{!Context.Type != NULL && Context.Contacts != NULL}"/>

I don't think that the proble is in my vf page, because the rest messages are shown correctly.

Upd 5

if (context.SelectedType == 'Planned' && StartDateParsed <= Today){
            ApexPages.addmessage(new ApexPages.message(ApexPages.severity.ERROR,'Please specify the future date'));
        }

Answer 1

I really don't know why the message doesn't appear. But i'm find another way to make this work correctly.

//Create the list of string for the error messages
List<String> errors =new List<String>();
String allErrors ='';

//Make the condition for error massage appear
if (context.SelectedType == 'Planned' && StartDateParsed <= Today){

     //Add the message in to a list 
     errors.add('Please specify the future date');
}

//Create the string of errors for show up as extension
//Make sure you set escape="false" in apex:pageMessages section
if (!errors.isEmpty()){                
                    for (String val : errors) {
                            allErrors = allErrors + val + '<br/>';
                    }                
            throw new TaskSchedulerException(allErrors);
        }