“...being branded..as inferior.”
Not inferior. Broken maybe, but not inferior.
Not recognizing homosexual “marriage” brands longterm homosexual unions as inferior, not individuals. And then only inferior to longterm heterosexual couples, not any other sort of unmarried couples. The law is silent on where they rank compared to, say, straight male buddies.
Unmarried homos have the exact same status as any other single person.
Actually, other sorts of couples aren’t inferior presage; they just don’t get special legal status. Which in itself doesn’t mean they’re inferior or superior. Convicts, for instance, have special legal status and everyone hates them.