Regarding my second question, I meant, "Can America justify making gay marriage illegal?"
I, too, couldn't care less about what people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms (unless, of course, it's like rape or something like that, but obviously we're talking about a completely different issue). My stance is that I find it atrocious to suggest that the government put its stamp of approval on gay marriages by issuing marriage licenses to gay couples.
Atrocious
1. extremely wicked, brutal, or cruel; barbaric
2. appalling, horrifying (e.g. weapons)
3a. utterly revolting; abominable (e.g. working conditions)
3b. of very poor quality (e.g. handwriting)
Let's assume, as we have done with farmfriend, that we deal only with civil union law that comes about legislatively. This assumption at least partially eliminates the following atrocities:
1. social change by judicial fiat
2. assault on a time-honored civilization-bearing institution
3. the black hole of equal protection
At the end of all this, the government is still putting a stamp of approval on the gay civil unions.
What does the stamp of approval mean? It means that the bond of these two individuals (even though it is not a marriage bond) is to be honored and respected.
I can't buy it. It amounts to the couple being out. And the problem I have with outness is that children are being shown from a very young age that these choices are available and equally valuable. It would be an unfavorable result if this resulted in a greater percentage of people living as homosexuals. But I think even more unfavorable would be the emphasis on lifestyle choices away from family-centricity.