MARRIAGE EQUALITY NATIONWIDE

[Razzle]

Well, someone had to bring forth some history.
At some point in European history, the church was the sole body responsible for administering marriages, seeing as they were practically the only keeping records of these practices.
Eventually, states began keeping their own records and thus was born the civil marriage. The same word was applied, probably, because people are lazy and couldn't come up with another word, or didn't want to appear divisive, or were assault desiring to replace the religious version.  Nowadays, all religious marriages are coupled with the civil marriage, so that the couple can reap all the tax benefits that come with their union.

However, there are some people who only get a civil marriage. Their union has nothing to do with anyone's belief system. They simply desire to spend their lives together and reap the tax benefits that come from such declaration.

Religious marriages are dictated by the religions and those have been adamant in their position of what their version of marriage entails: two individuals of different gender.

Gay marriages are civil marriages, not religious ones. The definition of civil marriage is allowed to evolve and become as inclusive possible.

One correction: some religions do want to marry same-sex couples and call it marriage. The Unitarian Universalists have been arguing for their right to do so for decades, and several pro-gay Christian denominations (I don't count the UUs as a Christian denomination; I've been attending their services as an atheist lately and as far as I can tell, most of the theist members would agree that it's an off-shoot religion) have been more recently as well. 

The Christians against it want everyone to think that their religious liberty is threatened by same-sex marriage legalisation, when in fact they have the same right to refuse to marry any couple for any reason that they always had. It's the religious liberty of pro-gay marriage churches that is denied all over the world until rulings like this are made, so religious freedom is being expanded, not reduced.