Homosexuality is a sin, not a crime. Let the gays marry. If the social conservatives had compromised on Civil Unions eight years ago they might have claimed the word "marriage" for hetero couples, but all the extra resistance has now successfully entrenched the term, "gay marriage". So there's no point in fighting for words anymore.
More importantly, it's inhuman to keep demonizing subgroups for the sake of preserving one's own religious illusions. Our society at large is not - and has not been for a very long time, if it even was in the first place - Christian.
Let me be very clear. Yes of course the US Constitution should afford equal protection to any same-gendered couples who are of a mind to declare themselves legally married. As I said, the only remaining debate should have been about what to call it, but that's over now and we need to be done with the argument. If you vote, vote for gay marriage. The sooner it happens, the better, for all of us.
Now, with that being said.
The genuinely ethical righteousness of legal justice and political equality should not confuse any believers about questions of sexual morality. No, being gay isn't any worse than being prideful or gluttonous or hetero-lustful, but it's not any better at all, either. But then, Pop American Christendom has been trending towards the excusing of all sorts of sin. It's like we're all trying to tell God, "It's too hard to be good, so c'mon, Big Guy, just let us go with the groove."
I may be wrong, but I think one reason support for gay marriage is growing, particularly among young american christians, is because we're already too accepting of promiscuity and self-indulgence of all kinds. If being gay is the worst sin out there today (which it's not, but you get my point here) then accepting homosexuality is like automatically de-clawing sin. In other words, fighting for gay marriage as a righteous cause helps assuage the conscience of licentious hetero christians. Culturally, at this point, if being gay is 'okay', then so is everything else.
That's why, for any level of social conservatism, the real danger isn't gay marriage. The real danger today is prolonging the debate. The meaner and more inhuman conservatives appear to be, the more liberals will feel righteous and justified... in their own personal sins. That's the twist. More and more, these days, Pop American Christendom is pushing hard
towards a Gospel that says "Everything is okay." And it's not. Not by a Jesus-sized longshot.
That last point will be hotly debated, I realize. But not justifiably, imho.
The Jesus of the Gospels was against hate, injustice, hypocrisy, authoritarianism, and sin. You can choose four of those five if you like but then you can't claim that it's christ-like. Now, personally, I confess, I've got no stones to throw. Absolutely none whatsoever. Nevertheless, one of many things Jesus was actually uncomfortably clear about is that God would strongly prefer it if people would live lives of moral righteousness, and for Jesus that definitely included issues of marriage and sexuality, issues on which he consistently took very traditional and conservative positions, no matter how graciously he discussed them.
Jesus would love gays, as he loved prostitutes. Far better than you or I currently love prostitutes, Jesus would love homosexuals. Then again, Jesus' personal celibacy would give him a far better testimony than most of ours, but that's a whole other topic.
Jesus is loving and forgiving, but he would never condone homosexual practice.
The US Government being a whole other entity, I say it's high time to let gay people marry, legally.
Just get this whole debate over with. Please.