Replies

A marriage should be just that, a legally binding contract between two consenting adults, who chose to share their lives and fortunes together "till death do they part".

No flaming, just obersavtions.

Some things are rooted deep in culture, not just ours but nearly every culture. The liberals lambast the US, et al, when they try to change the culture of other countries - calling it imperialistic. Yet they wish to do that very thing for their own interest.
No one is stopping them from living together, if they want to partake of marriage then they should honor what it means to the culture and government (and has meant for centuries). THEY choose not to conform to it and instead want it to change. They have rejected our notion of what marriage is, which is fine, but for them to want to force an entire culture/society to change to fit their desires is suspect. Some things come with benefits, having kids gets you a tax deduction, should we consider pet's as children for those who choose to have a dog instead of a kid?
Marriage as it is has a historical base, a religious base, and a world wide culture base from which we as a society have learned and benefitted from and chose to embrace. If people wish to live together, fine, but we have placed value on procreation in a family unit and the brining of children into society to continue said society. We see that act, or trying to do that act in a marriage, as a benefit to society which puts a burden on those doing it - raising kids and being committed to one spouse is a trying task which rewards all involved but the most work is on those directly doing it.
Some people choose to opt out of this, they either stay single, get married and decide they don't think they can handle kids, or live together. Fine. They contribute to society in their own way, then die leaving only personal possessions behind. That is their right. But those who procreate keep the human race alive and going, and to do so in a marriage creates a more stable society which is the bulding block of all socieites. Marriage is the starting point for all of this. It may not lead to kids, but it is the first step. The entire human race benefits from this.
No one is punishing anyone for making the choice to not get married, to be gay, to live alone, etc and so on. We as a group have said that those who wish to come together and commit to keeping the human race going and commit to one another to work on it together deserve a small token of status which we have named marriage.
Of course, there are always exceptions to rules, but exceptions should not define the rules.

Very well said, I am in complete agreement with you.

The nuclear family is the basis of Western civilisation.
For proof of this look at the subcultures in American society in which the family has broken down and men escape the responsibilities of child raising. The results are children who often don't fit into society or find it remarkably difficult to make decent lives for themselves.