Look at that...STILL not a single answer to the questions posed and yet here you are AGAIN asking yet another question yourself.
I will be happy to answer your Civil Union question when you answer my two simple question I posed.
Number one...Since interracial marriage was so unpopular, should it have been ruled on by the SCOTUS, yes or no.
Number two...What is the societal harm in allowing me the rights, benefits and protections of legal, civil marriage?
Well, Sandwich....I will state that I understand your upset, and personal angst in this matter.
Let me try to make my belief clear.
1."What is the societal harm in allowing me the rights, benefits and protections of legal, civil marriage?"
None, in that I wouldn't know whether the couple next door is 'married' or in a civil union.
But isn't the same true in reverse....i.e., if you were accorded the financial benefits that you see as being denied, why change the definition of marriage?
And I would vote for a bill that gave you said benefits.
2. Interracial marriage is in no way related to this question.
One reason is that folks are born into a race, and have no way to change same.
Homosexuality, for most, is a phase.
a. "In other words, for the minority who may have experimented with gay relationships at some juncture in their lives, well over 80% explicitly renounced homosexual (or even bisexual) self-identification by age of 35. For the clear majority of males (as well as women) who report gay encounters, homosexual activity appears to represent a passing phase, or even a fleeting episode, rather than an unshakable, genetically pre-determined orientation."
Column: Does it matter if only 1.4% of people are gay? - USATODAY.com
b. "Also interesting was the finding that by the time they get to middle age, the rate of self-identified homosexuality among women plummets well below 1%. Furthermore, between 92% of women self-identifying as homosexual and 70% of men self-identifying as homosexual have had sexual intercourse with members of the opposite sex, while only 6% of self-identified heterosexuals have had sex with a member of the same sex."
American Population: 1.4 Percent Homosexuals, TrySexuals, Who Knows? | DBKP - Death By 1000 Papercuts - DBKP
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr036.pdf
c. "This study asks us to consider is whether impressionable young people could be persuaded by seductive others that they are “genetically” homosexual, when in fact they are not–..." Ibid.
3. That being said, I see the solution as a political question, not a religious nor racial one.
If the people of a state vote in favor of gay marriage...it should be a reality. If a constitutional amendment is passed, either for or against...then,I would support the result.
I understand that you would vote for, while I, with no wish to see you unhappy, would vote to keep the traditional definition.
I wish you the best.