Aineo,
So. How would my "legal right to marry" cost 300,000 lives? Who are these people you think I don't care about? (Ex-)gay Christians who will abandon their moral beliefs as soon as homosexuality is legal?
Aaron (and Sweetkiyyu, for that matter),
Marriage was an institution long before Christianity was a religion. It exists, in one form or another, in any number of non-Christian cultures. And there is no requirement in the United States that one be a Christian -- or a theist of any sort -- in order to obtain a marriage license. So, why must one be straight?
I understand that you believe homosexuality is a sin. That's fine. What I don't understand is why you want to legally enforce that religious belief on people who don't share it.
"You don't need to get married" is the wrong answer. You don't really "need" to get legally married, either... hold your ceremony in your church and you're married in the eyes of God, right? No, I don't need to be legally married to be in a committed relationship, either... but marriage is a civil right, one which confers a legal status advantageous to two people in a such a relationship. It's also a symbolic tradition which I would like to participate in, someday.
And my state Supreme Court continues to sit on the case of a half-dozen gay people who feel the same way... with the exception of actually knowing who they want to marry. If I'm frustrated by this now, I can only imagine how they feel.