Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional

[PanzerJaeger]

So, your praphrased argument is that, since the civil institution of marriage is already meaningless, why not lump more types of relationships onto it? My question is: why wouldn't it just be better to get rid of it entirely? It doesn't do anything to me, the government and society stopped supporting it years ago and it actually increases the value of the Catholic marriage to do so. It's likely that it wouldn't reduce the number of actual marriages, just the number of technical ones. I say let's abandon the idea of civil marriage. A modular marriage system, if you will.

Why is it that the strongest defenders of 'traditional' marriage have such a fatalistic attitude towards the institution while gay people tend to be so hopeful about it?

In short, I am a big traditionalist when it comes to marriage and I think the negative trajectory of devaluation and divorce can be reversed. I believe it does have both personal value to the parties involved including children and a greater social value, despite being debased by so many irresponsible people in contemporary times. I simply do not believe that gender is what gives it that value. Instead, commitment, responsibility, devotion, and love make a strong, socially beneficial marriage and a stable environment in which to start a family.