Gay rights is simply a cohort effect.
For example, anecdotally of course, my grandmother is horrified at the idea of gays being allowed to marry.
My mother, on the other hand, isn't horrified but is still conflicted because she has gay friends but yet her generation grew up with my grandmother's view passed on to her. Her dissonance is at trying to reconcile the fact that the gays she knows are good people who love each other just like the straights - BUT, it's "just wrong", it "just isn't a good idea", etc.
Me, I don't really care if they marry or not but I'm not passionate about the suibject. I see it as changing over time, we'll eventually get there,the writing is on the wall for everybody to see. It's going to happen but I'm certainly not interested in advocating in marches for the gays or donating to their groups, etc.
My cousin IS gay! Lol. He's about ten years younger than me and his sister who just turned 30 are fully on board and all for it.
I suspect that by the time in another 10 years or so when my nieces become adults and politically active it probably won't even be an issue. It'll still always be a hot topic to some groups, probably more conservative religious organizations, but to the general public it will be as important and hot a topic as say, returning to the gold standard.