“But I am not so sympathetic as to go to the wall to protect the institution of marriage from a threat which I see to be attenuated and probably inevitable”
Why is it inevitable when no country in recorded history has allowed sodomite “marriage”. There have countries that have tolerated sodomites, but none that have allowed marriage for them. Not the first one. All in the world it is is abhorrent sexual behavior that destroys anyone that participates in it.
A fresh example that culture trumps politics.
Indeed, culture trumps popular political will as we see referenda representing the direct will of the people set aside by courts. Only later do we begin to see the polling conform to our elitists shaping of the culture.
But ultimately as I said in my first post, it was lost because only the most attenuated connection could be made between permitting homosexual marriage and direct harm to voters' vital interests.