I have nothing against the gays. But every time a social idea is suggested I try to examine it from the point of the impact on the society.
Now, I did not do a real analysis in the case of the Gay marriage and I would not do it (mostly because it is not an interesting issue for me); but I did at least look at it.
Lets take just one issue involved: the insurance. Legalization of the Gay Marriage would force the private employers and the government cover gay couples.
It appears that the cost of such insurance would be considerably higher than that for normal marriage. The reason is a very high HIV infection rate within the gay community (Asacr, it is close to 50% in SF). As I recall, the HIV-suppressant drugs cost alone are about 10K/year. This is a large amount.
It is sufficiently large to raise medical costs for everybody (and, if you check, you'll find them skyrocketing already). For the federal government this means bigger budget deficits; but for small/medium companies this means cutting down on insuring straight families.
The impact on society would be quite unpleasant. Some families with children would lose the insurance; some would have to pay more for it. Additionally, small companies would have darn good reasons to discriminate against gays.
The costs of gay healthcare are unproportionally high, insisting on it means trying to get an unproportional share of resources.
Perhaps someone can get better estimates; this is an issue that may affect millions of people.
Please would you explain why they would be higher if gays were legally married. Don't they have healthcare cover anyway? Aren't their treatments already being paid for in that way? I don't understand what difference it would make from that point of view. Thanks