Weddings are the great equalizer in America. Regardless of the style or budget, for many families, weddings are an expected rite of passage. The fairytale. The mother's dream. The father's pride.
Bit by bit, same-sex couples are being invited to participate in this rite of passage. And as crazy as it sounds, I believe gay weddings change the world. Gay weddings show young LGBT kids that it really does get better. They create a ripple effect which can lead to profound social change.
Think about it ... you may know a great unmarried gay couple who have been together for years. But do you know or celebrate their anniversary? I've seen it firsthand many times: no matter how accepted and loved that couple may be by their straight friends and family, the experience of a legal wedding finally makes them equal. Those anniversaries finally count.
In many states, the right of who may marry falls in the hands of the voters. And for same-sex couples, that's a very dangerous proposition. Just ask all the LGBT people of California, where there were 18,000 legal same-sex weddings for six months in 2008 before the voters decided otherwise by passing Proposition 8. How would you like your right of whom to marry to be decided by voters? No fun.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bernadette-coveney-smith/why-do-gay-weddings-chang_b_1080909.html