Why is SSM such a big deal?

[cinyc]

AggregateDemand and CountryClassSF are trolls.  They shouldn't be engaged on this issue because they're just going to spout nonsense.

I am really sick of this nonsense of calling people who disagree with you trolls and/or putting them on ignore.  Not everyone is a so-called "progressive" who wants to shove their viewpoint on gay marriage down everyone's throat, regardless of legitimate religious objections. 

I have not noticed any gun pointing myself by SSM proponents. Rather it has all been ballot box and court action, where SSM proponents having a very high batting average. Yes, I know, you don't really believe your own hyperbole, but I digress. I also haven't noticed the word "Hitler" bandied about much either, and you know the Hitler rule - you invoke his name inappropriately, and you automatically lose the argument out of the box.

A CEO was forced out of his job for the "crime" of engaging in the political process by donating to the campaign for California's Proposition 8.   Bakers are being forced to bake cakes with messages in support of something they vehemently disagree with.   Some "progressives" label anyone who has legitimate religious objections to gay marriage as "bigots" and "haters", instead of engaging in debate, and try to ruin opponents' lives and job prospects. 

If you don't see that as gun pointing by SSM proponents, I don't know what to tell you.  If you dare disagree with SSM, you are evil incarnate to "progressives".

[cinyc]

What Christian teachings say about homosexuality is 100% irrelevant to this discussion because we have  a secular Constitution and government. 

We have a First Amendment which says Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion.  That means you can't force a church to perform gay marriages, and, ideally, a baker from baking a pro-gay marriage cake when it is against his religious beliefs to do so.  Sadly, some anti-religious "progressives" on your side want to force both, either through taking away tax-exempt status of religions that don't perform gay marriages or forcing bakers to bake something saying something you don't believe in.

We also have the right to elect officials who will enact whatever policies we think are relevant, whether they be based on religious beliefs, Satanism or moral relativism, as long as they do not go so far as to establish an official state religion.  So to say that we have a secular Constitution and government isn't quite true.  We should, ideally, have a government that reflects the values of those who our representatives represent.

[cinyc]

So Same-Sex Marriage should be legalized federally this very instant then, because the people our representatives supposedly represent support it as a majority.

No.  Marriage is an issue that has been left to the states.  Let them decide.

I have little conceptual issue with state legislatures passing same sex marriage laws.  I disagree with it, but respect the democratic process.  What I have a big problem with is courts creating a new-found right to something that hasn't existed for thousands of years.  Nothing has changed to make something that was illegal now the law of the land.