"Same-sex couples live together, rent and buy housing together, make love, have dogs and children, die together."

So then why do they care if the government "allows" these marriages? Oh, because they want money from the government (ie. taxpayers) just like officially married couples get. The solution is to get government out of the marriage business altogether and to stop taxing some people for other people's life styles (gay or straight). Government, in my opinion, would best be confined to defense, keeping the peace, and enforcing weights and measures and contracts. Everything else should be in private and voluntary hands and not supported by taxation but by voluntary donations or contracts.