What are legitimate arguments and sources for/against gay marriage and how it is a constitutional issue?

The illegalization of gay marriage contradicts the 14th amendment, unalienable rights on the grounds of pursuit of happiness, and both the establishment and free exercise clauses, and is therefore a constitutional right. We are not a nation based on any one belief system, no matter how much bigoted religious zealots want us to be.

My own argument, which I consider to be legitimate, is this -

The US Government should get out of the marriage business, period.

If the government is going to offer legal status and tax benefits to a pair of people, it should offer them to ANY pair of people - a man and woman, two men, two women, two brothers, a parent and child, a brother and sister ...

If two people want to commit themselves to a partnership, the government either needs to recognize this ACROSS THE BOARD or not recognize it ACROSS THE BOARD - and not make a moral judgement about whether or not they are sleeping together, or not sleeping together, or whatever.

As far as the government is concerned, this is about taxes, about joint ownership of property, about health decisions, about domestic partnerships.

I am a married heterosexual male, but in my mind the definition of my relationship with my wife is NONE of the government's business. In fact, we lived together for three years before we got married, and both of us believed that "We don't need a stupid piece of paper from the government to define our relationship!" Fact is, we didn't - but we do need it to file joint tax returns, to take advantage of the marriage credit, to be guaranteed power of attorney - all legal issues that have nothing to do with our sex life.

One of my best friends is unmarried and disinterested - his sister is the same. When their parents died, they merged their inheritances and bought a house together - why should tax law treat them differently than my wife and me?

When I was growing up I knew of two sisters - friends of my grandmothers' - who never married but shared a house together. Why should their marital status define how the government treats their joint ownership, their tax status, their right to oversee each other's healthcare decisions?

Marriage is between two people who love each other - Domestic Partnership is a legal status. Let marriage be defined by two individuals, or their church or spiritual connection - not by the government.

The Gay marriage initiative, in my opinion, is going down the wrong road. There is a big political element to it - that if the government legitimizes gay marriage then somehow a larger segment of the population will be more accepting of the lifestyle - an admirable goal but it excludes all kinds of other partnerships.

Let the governnment treat ALL of the citizens with an even hand.

The Constitution says nothing about either marriage or gays. It does guarantee equal protection under the law. This makes gay marriage a constitutionally protected right.

1) Gay marriage strengthens families.

2) Married people tend to be emotionally, mentally, and physically healthier-perhaps because they are urged by their spouses to take care of themselves. This is true for gay as well as straight couples.

3) The governmental institution of marriage gives rights to the married couples that civil unions and whatnot do not give.

4) Children of married couples tend to be better off than children of unmarried couples, because they know that their parents are in a legally stable relationship. This goes for children of gay parents as well as children of straight parents.

5)Most of the arguments I have seen against gay marriage are based on religious grounds. It is ok when individual churches refuse to marry gay couples. They will always have the right to determine who they do and do not marry. However, to deny gay couples civil marriages on these religious grounds is a violation of the separation of church and state.

6)Marriage encourages couples to give up promiscuous sex, thus reducing STD rates.

It is against the Holy Bible, which is above our own laws. It says so, right in there. Therefore, as a Christian nation, we can not allow this to occur.