>>So why is government involved in sanctioning marriage, straight, gay, polymorphic, or whatever, in the first place? Marriage, I'm sure most here will agree, is a religious institution. Why is the State involved in what is, at heart, a religious matter? <<
This is exactly the question that we will soon have a national discussion over -- the value and reason for marriage. I strongly disagree that marriage is only a religious matter. The marriage and family are the very cornerstones of our society and society has a very large stake in supporting marriages. Husband - wife two parent families have been consistently shown to have the best results in raising children including the amount of crime, education, values, etc. that a civilized society is based on.
This is what the gay marriage debate boils down to: why do we have marriage in the first place? Then, in that context, why or why not should gays be allowed, then, to marry?