Wonderful posts Sandra and snappy. I share the same views, but I haven't commented as much because I knew others (like you!) would be able to express it better than me. I also completely agree with Lizzie when she said this:

keep the government out of marriage. If a church wants to allow same-sex couples to get married there, fine. If they don't, fine.
If some of you are saying marriage should be a religious thing, then why can't a homosexual couple get married in a church that accepts them? If you don't agree with that, then you are saying that every person should practice your form of religion.

Also, I have to strongly disagree with the old notion that marriage was meant for people to create a family. If a married couple doesn't want kids, that is still a marriage. If a married couple doesn't go to church and were wed by a justice of the peace, that is still a marriage. To me, a marriage is a union between two people who love each other and are promising to committ for the rest of their lives. I, for one, will not sit on a throne and try to tell people what they can and cannot or should and should not do