I'm denying them a way to validate their relationship with their life partner....ok. So now having external validation of a personal relationship is that important? That validation is considered a right? Affording that validation to someone while imposing their opinions on me is ok?

Who's to say that your boyfriend of 26 years isn't entled to anything. Write a will. As for the gravity difference...well now we are definately treading into an area which is far removed from the secular world. Yes....I do see a vast difference between the two. And that is a *very* big point in all of this. That difference is that the a marriage commitment is intended to be life long and is blessed by God. Do some marriages end in divorce? Yes...and the Bible even gives reasons why this is acceptable.

Interestingly enough, the original post had a strong conversational element of forcing churches to perform homosexual marriage. A big point that I wanted to originally point out that there is a big difference between two murderers (Bonnie & Clyde) getting married and two men. That difference is that going into the marriage everyone has sin...if you had to be sinless to get married, only Jesus would have been eligable (with no woman to marry). However with two men getting married, that would be entering into a habitual lifestyle of sin, without repentance or shame. Unrepentant sin is a big deal with God...and as such, it couldn't stand at the center of relationship that people are then asking God to bless.