It has long been obvious that straight people take their access to marriage for granted. Getting married is cheap, if you are marrying a member of the opposite sex. Also you can do it anywhere, because of this I feel that straight couples have become like Mormons who live near the temple. When there is a temple right in your city, it becomes so easy to forget how sacred and special a trip to the temple is. So people pop in for a quick session before picking up groceries. This would be great except that people who live to close to temples have started taking cell phones into endowment sessions. The special sacredness flies away when your texting in the celestial room. It is the very same with marriage, when you can have one cheaply and at any county clerks office the special sacredness of that act is dulled. My evidence is the number of marriages that end in divorce, also the rapidity with which some couples get married.
When a gay couple wants to get married, they have to pay three times the cost to change their names (if the state they live in does not recognize the marriage) They must put a great deal of thought into the marriage because in most cases they do not get any financial security. The idea that gay couples are less committed to each other is nonsense when you examine what they must endure to marry. A straight man who marries multiple times is not more committed to marriage, not necessarily, it's just far easier for him. In the same vein, a member of the Mormon church who takes her cell phone with her to the temple once a week, is not more devoted than the woman who drives 300 miles to visit the temple twice a year. When you have to traverse more obstacles in order to reach your goal, it is harder to take it for granted.
I believe that most religious people do not want to legalize gay marriage because they do not want to acknowledge that they have taken the sacred act of marriage for granted.
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