The "sanctity of marriage" argument amuses the hell out of me as well, since most of it's trappings are of pagan origin. Throughout history, marriage has almost always been a "religious" institution across cultures, traditionally DEFINED as "man and woman". Notice I said "religious" and NOT "Christian", as marriage existed long before Christianity was a known religion...
However, I would like to see some sort of designation other than "marriage" used for gay and lesbian unions. Marriage holds a religious connotation for a great many people; it should be up to the churches on who they wish to marry (this won't change anytime soon, for the most part). The government should only hold the power to grant civil unions, be they man/woman, man/man, woman/woman, complete with the same rights under law as men/women couples enjoy and are burdened with.
Semantics, I know, but I think it would settle the firestorm surrounding this and be a "win/win" for those on both sides of the argument.
Not only that, but it meets the commonly-held qualifications of "seperation of church and state" and "equal rights" no?
