The sole role of government in a society is to (a) protect individuals and their property from physical coercion and (b) to enforce appropriate legal measures when a contract has been breached. These are the fundamentals of all just government action. Government action outside this Constitutional parameter is not only unconstitutional but wholly irrational. If government, which is [remember] only a coalition of people, is permitted by a sanction of society (ie. "the majority") to act outside these means, it permits any abrogation of rights, at the cost of every minority, to the benefit of any demogauge, at the expense of every individual. The largest minority is no particular ethnicity or race; it's the single, lonely, bounded individual. As you might have (hopefully!) realized and accepted by now, the government plays no role in an association, partnership, alliance, union, coalition, joining, and marriage of any individuals so far as all parties participate willfully. A marriage in the rightful eyes of government, as unattractive, non-mystical and material it might seem, is a legal contract: That is, parties sign off on an alliance of legal obligations and duties. This is the only area government is to be concerned with one's love life. Just as with any contract, government has no rightful authority to manipulate, coerce, or delegitimize a contract pertaining to consenting individuals. Government can only enforce it, ensuring contractual terms and agreements are maintained. Homosexual marriage has been so skewed and poorly understood in the mainstream American mindset, for these two reasons: Terrible spokespeople and terrible listeners. The left has failed at delivering a rational, coherent argument in defense of gay marriage. Arguments such as one's "right" to marriage, etc., are a hazardous argument that yield plenty of slippery slopes. You don't have "the right to marriage," you have the right to participate with whomever you want and create as many unions/marriages/partnerships with whomever you want. You aren't