Should I ever decide to marry a man, I want the government to recognize the reality that we are a functioning domestic unit just the same as a heterosexual couple doing the same thing is. The fight for gay marriage is about this.

Being seen as equals, peers, the same as everyone else, legitimate... it's a basic drive in people to be accepted, so yes, I would like my peers, my family, my friends to accept me. But that won't have anything to do with whether or not gay marriage is legal. I will build my friendships based on mutual respect and if someone cannot accept me as being queer, I'll have to realize that that relationship is limited.

As far as legitimacy goes, as long as the rest of the world accepts that my contractual agreement is the same as any heterosexual contractual agreement, then I don't give a flying hoot if they think I'm in a "real" relationship. People de-legitimize a lot of things... I have cousins who say that the boy they're dating right now isn't a keeper because he's brown, that they're waiting for a real relationship. The implication being that they can't have a real relationship with a brown man, but must wait for a white man to have something "real."

There are churches that refuse to recognize interracial marriages, groups that don't recognize interfaith marriages, and more.

I'll find my own community that accepts me and mine. I don't need the whole world.