"Jesus would rather kill, not marry, gay people" - Franklin Graham

[SteveII]

Why? Because that is the biggest objection to the gay marriage debate. Goes right over most of your heads. Instead, you want to go right to "bigotry." Then when pressed, you go through all sorts of machinations (see this thread as exhibit A) to link the two. You can't. It's impossible. There is no such thing at all, ever, of a religious definition of marriage. It predates and transcends all religions and all cultures. Your argument is shit because there is nothing you can dream up to establish the link to bigotry. All you have are assertions, mischaracterizations, and demonization with a health dose of circular reasoning. Well done.

Exactly. it's the biggest objection to gay marriage. And it is an absolutely trivial one considering the legal context. Why the heat over a definition like this unless it is due to bigotry? Seriously. What other reason would there be to get this bent out of shape in having two men in a legal marriage?

All that is required is that legally, the bond between gays is exactly the same as the bond between straights.

No one cared about opposing civil unions--which would have provided the legal framework of equal rights. Why was that not enough? 

Setting aside that you just espoused an argument from ignorance, why prefer the old definition? Take your pick:

1. its the principle of the thing
2. people get attached to a definition after 10,000 years
3. it's a slippery slope if 5 people can just decide for everyone. What's next from the bench? 
4. it's a symbol of a relativistic culture which is then linked to the crumbling of the fabric of society
5. belief that marriage was ordained by God (traditionally defined) as the most important institution ever created for mankind (not a religious institution) and should not be redefined ever. 

There, I gave 5 reasons that are not themselves routed in bigotry. Someone could hold just one or all of them.