Perhaps I also should have said that the civil institution of marriage has nothing to do with sex or with love.

Marriage is about the state regulating legal relationships between people who may or may not have children in common, but do share property, benefits, and entitlements in common.

Civil marriage was never about love or sex. From it's inception (and from the current debate, it appears Americans need a lot of educating about the history of civil marriage), the institution of civil marriage has been about property, money, benefits, and entitlements. It is also true that marriage has been used, at various times throughout history, as a means of enforcing the moral code of the ruling elite that was in vogue at the time. In that regards, what the conservatives are doing with the gay marriage debate is nothing new. But their attempts to conflate marriage with their moral code of conduct simply can't work in the US, because too few people ascribe to their moral code.

So again, people need not allow themselves to be fooled about the debate about the sacredness/sanctity of heterosexual marriage. That isn't what this is about. This controversy is being fueled by the ruling elite, who wish to pre-empt the coming debate on universal health care, on universal education benefits, etc.