It should be legal for NON-religious homosexuals to marry another person of the same gender.

Actually, marriage IS an institution of the Church. By "Church," I mean the religious institutions performing the marriages, not necessarily only Christians. Other religions besides Christianity frown upon homosexual marriages as well. Also, some atheists have been turned away by some churches due to their lack of belief. If they can find a preacher that agrees to do their marriage, then they can be married, no problem. However, homosexuality is expressly condemned in the religions writings like the Book of Mormon, the Bible, and the Koran to name a few. In the eyes of most religious persons, marriages are degraded by allowing those obviously against the teachings of their faith and unwilling to change to participate in the same religious marriage ceremony as those of the faith. I challenge you to find a legitimate religion that would happily marry a homosexual couple. "If civil unions are basically the same as marriages, which they are not, then why can't we let homosexuals marry?" Marriages are religious. They are designed to be a covenant between partner and partner to declare before their religious deity that they are forever one. Civil Unions are contracts made with the state to ensure the same economic and civil rights as those with marriage. They are not basically the same, civil unions have no religious significance. The reason "separate but equal" didn't work was because the African-Americans were in very small minority and did not know how to stand up for their rights for a long time. However, homosexuals and homosexual sympathizers are not in a very small minority and they certainly know how to stand for their rights. Civil Unions can be changed to provide all the same rights as a marriage would. If they are given the same economic and civil liberties through civil unions, why do they wish to have marriage on top of that? As for my last point about homosexual couples contributing less, I concede that it is possible for them to reproduce with the help of technology. I realize it was a long shot argument and I didn't expect it to be an important point. It doesn't affect my main points anyway. And since you say I didn't respond to your arguments, I'll do so expressly now. Why is it that just because a gay person is gay, they cannot marry who they want? Because marriage is not controlled by the government, and many religious institutions do not wish to perform homosexual marriages. Since when did the government have to right to limit our liberties and freedoms that do not matter in homeland security? The government does not have this right. It can't force you to be straight. It also can't force you to accept homosexuality. The government has no say in the matter, but they did provide a nice compromise by creating civil unions that are supposed to give the same economic and civil liberties to homosexuals as marriages do for heterosexual couples. Why do we discriminate based upon sexual orientation, even though we don't discriminate based upon race or gender? Unfortunately, you cannot change what people think. Some people are racists, and there is absolutely nothing you can do legally to change that. Acting on your racism to break a law, however, is illegal. The same argument can be applied to the homosexual debate. You cannot stop religious institutions from condemning homosexuality as a sin and withholding their ceremonies, but you can prevent them from actively pursuing the end of homosexuality in violent manners. Homosexuals are not discriminated against except in certain social environments, and the government does not have the right to interfere as long as no laws are broken. Homosexuals have the right to a state-recognized civil union that should grant them the same rights marriages between heterosexuals do. I ask you, why do Non-religious homosexuals wish to be married by a religious institution if they have the same rights as the heterosexual couples? You argue that they don't have the same rights, so I also ask you this: Why not just change civil unions to be equal to marriages in all legal matters?