Gay marriage

Aaaargh! I forgot to blog yesterday! PANIC!
Well, not really. I'll just do two today to make up for it.

So, this Saturday morning blog is *technically* a Friday blog, and I've decided that Fridays in January (and possibly Fridays beyond) will be Gay Fridays! I.e, the day I blog about LGBT rights, stupid homophobic things people do, wonderfully homo-accepting things people do, etc.

A fairly obvious place to start is gay marriage. I believe same-sex relationships should be treated the same way as opposite-sex relationships, as both are based on the same emotions and the same principles. As such, gay couples should be entitled to all the same rights as straight couples. And yes, marriage IS a rights issue, because having the legal status of a married couple comes part-in-parcel with property rights, hospital visitation rights and the like- rights that gay couples in most western countries do not have, even if they are allowed civil partnerships.
So, what are the arguments against same-sex marriage?

My religion condemns homosexuality.
Homosexuals, then, clearly either don't follow your religion or interpret it in a different way. Religion is something you follow electively, in this society at least, and you cannot expect someone who has chosen not to follow the same brand of religion as you to obey it's laws. That's just illogical.

But marriage is a Christian institution!
This is closer to a valid point, but your preposition is simply no longer the case. People of all theological dispositions get married, and the government provides non-religious services in registry offices etc. Therefore, marriage that exists outside of the Church does not and should not have to follow religious laws.

Won't churches be forced to marry gay couples/won't teachers be forced to teach that homosexuality is  OK?
Neither of these is the case. No same-sex marriage law (proposed or actual) has ever instructed for a change in the education system or the legal status of religious institutions. This claim is generally used by the religious right-wing to try and con those not part of the religious right-wing to view same-sex marriage as a threat.

That's all for now!