1) People are generally greedy. So many people are opposed to socialism, but try to strike down Social Security benefits tied to marriage and they raise the roof. No one has ever been able to adequately explain to me why benefits should be extended to a spouse that has never worked. Why should Social Security benefits increase when a spouse dies? And no one has ever explained to me why the government has a right to license for a fee a church wedding as it is a religious ceremony. Government must be taken out of marriage and marriage out of government. Is a church wedding part of the "establishment of religion" cited in the First Amendment, and if so, by what right can the government tax it via a license fee?
2) Homosexuals want to participate in the greed, and their most pressing goal is for Social Security Medicare benefits. Although HIV has crossed the gender and age barriers, it is still predominately a disease among homosexual men. Treatment for HIV is costly. They seek to have the government subsidize the treatment by altering the traditional definition of marriage. Unless the government subsidies are taken out of marriage, homosexuals have an argument that transcends sexual orientation. If two heterosexual men, one married living with his spouse and the other single living with a roommate work their entire lives, retire and die, why is the surviving spouse afforded a government subsidy, but not the roommate?
I earnestly believe the issue of same sex marriage would evaporate if the money and Medicare motivations were not there. This can not happen as long as people place a higher value on money than what is morally right. Amid all the controversy people on both sides are demanding government at all levels get directly involved in the institution of marriage, and if marriage is indeed part of religion, they open the door for government to get involved in all aspects of religion.
I think homosexuals want same-sex "marriages" legal regardless of the money issues.
Their consciences already bother them for living an immoral lifestyle. If society declares it "legal," they think it would take away the constant guilt which is continuously in the back of their minds.
But it won't take it away.
You got it. Just follow the money. If you think smoking is expensive, the public costs of the AIDS/HIV epidemic will destroy the Medicare/Medicaid safety nets like they were made out of toilet paper. Grab your ankles America!
good comment which I'll come back to and ponder some more.
I'd add that the main reason homosexual marriage is becoming viable today is because over the past 30-40 years (roughly when the pill/abortion on demand/leftists ascendant became pandemic) normalcy has been defined down and deviancy defined up.