Kiya, you do yourself a disservice by banning Christian reasons before we even began the discussion - unfortunately, it makes you look like bad. I am not a Christian but I have friends who are and religion, in one form or another, influences a solid chunk of public thinking. Dismissing their beliefs without even allowing them to be heard smacks of the sort of repression you obviously feel that gays are the victim of. Both sides need to try and keep open minds - not just the "other side". <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
The reason that many people still oppose gay marriage is (as someone else already said) because, at heart, they don't like homosexuals. So why is this? I have long time friends who are homosexual, and apart from a certain degree of lingering unhappiness and confusion among some (mostly men) they seem no different in range, style or behaviour than my straight friends.
But look at the gay roles and images that are on public display - sadly most of them are still pretty negative.
The average person seems to still have an image of homosexuals that is linked with AIDS, tantrum throwing pop and movie stars, mincing gay comedians, paedophile priests and teachers, and a bunch of other reasonably unsavoury behaviours. They see few positive public examples of dignified homosexuals.
Every year here we have a Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, widely reported and shown on TV. It's still run like a childish freak show, with ridiculous costumes and in your face sexual innuendo. It looks like a lot of fun to participate in, but it's hardly a good PR tool for converting those who are uncomfortable with homosexuality. There's still a big element of deliberately provoking the anger of people who are anti-gay. It is slowly growing up, and there are more serious marchers than before (this year gay police were allowed to march as a group, but not in uniform).
It gets back to something that has been mentioned many times on this thread - respect. Gays don't yet have much respect. If you drew a 'pie chart' of attitudes to gays I suspect that you would find a large section of opinion that was still actively opposed, another large section that represented either tolerance or indifference, and a pretty small piece that denoted real respect.
Now this may not be fair, but it seems to be the way it still is. And the only way to gain respect is to earn it. You can't just demand it on the grounds of fairness or legality. Like it or not, gays have a long way to go before the immediate public image of them is one of respect, and the journey is in their hands.
Until then, mixed feelings about gay marriages - particularly with regard to children - will remain.
I wish them good luck on their journey, but they can't just wave a wand and get respect ( not even a fairy wand... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" /> )
