This isn't about having your own beliefs - everyone is entitled to that. This is about stripping away the basic civil rights of others, which rather based on one's religious beliefs or not, I find wholly unacceptable.
Here's where I disagree with it being an issue of stripping away civil rights:
First, I do not believe the rights of anyone in this scenario are any different than anyone else's. People in this country have always had the right to marry only a certain subset of people (excluding the period in this nation's history where people of certain races could not marry people of other races, which, thankfully, is gone, so let's not throw that red herring on the table, please). Regardless of my sexual orientation, I have ALWAYS been permitted to marry only adult women who are (1) over the age of consent and (2) are not presently married to someone else. No matter how much I might desire otherwise, I have never been permitted to marry a man, a person who is underaged, or a person who is married to someone else. This is true regardless of my sexual orientation, and those rights would be no different no matter what my sexual orientation. Consequently, there is no difference in rights. And it logically flows that a right that has never existed cannot in fact be stripped away.
Second, the concept of "rights" is
always limited by other competing concerns. Rights are never completely unlimited. For example, rights are limited by our concepts of what is or is not moral conduct. In this case,
engaging in homosexuality (as opposed to one's sexual orientation) is immoral, as defined by the Bible. You may disagree with that moral standard. I think comment, in his post, articulated very well why some hold that moral standard and allow that standard to dictate their lives. I don't mean to disregard others' beliefs on whether or not they think that is a proper moral standard, but for the sake of this particular point, whether one agrees that that is the correct moral standard or not is immaterial. The point is simply that a lot of people hold that moral standard and believe it is an absolute, objective (not subjective) moral standard because it is from God. Consequently, I believe that the government should not affirmatively endorse immoral conduct by giving it a recognized special status (i.e., recognizing it as marriage). I am not saying the government should take action in outlawing homosexual conduct. But I am saying the government should not take action in granting special relationship status either.
That is, in a nutshell, why I believe it is not an issue of stripping away civil rights. I do not like the way I have worded it, because it sounds cold and unfeeling in a way that does not completely represent how I feel on the subject. I wish I had comment's (and jammindude's) gift for articulating my viewpoint in a way that conveys both the viewpoint I feel is correct as well as the compassion I feel behind that view. I simply do not possess that ability, but I've explained it the best I can, and hopefully it is at least understandable.