Being a highly-educated middle-class non-ethnic non-married non-homosexual male I feel uniquely qualified to have an opinion on the issue of gay marriage.
I know little of the history of marriage. However, I think it is safe to say that marriage has always been in the purview of the church. Through most of history the church was a powerful influence on the government (or was the government). Our constitution separated those bodies, but marriage remained in the control of the government despite being a religious concept.
So why is the government in the marriage business? From a government perspective, there seem to be two reasons. First, it provides a reason to tax. Second, it confers special privileges. Which is well and good (if you like being taxed and controlled) but has nothing to do with the religious implications of marriage.
So what I would like to see is the government acknowledge a state of being such as ‘civil union’ that is taxable and confers special privileges on citizens entering into such a union. Marriage becomes a separate and distinct union, controlled by religious institutions who can regulate their own flavors as they see fit. So heterosexuals and homosexuals can all get civil unions, and the heterosexuals can get married while the homosexuals burn for all eternity for their sin.