The left is big on changing names in the hope that the connotations of a respected word will somehow transfer to their pet causes. My guess is that they will eventually win on “marriage” too, and that word will lose any positive connotations it used to have. If we’re smart, we’ll fight as much as possible, but if we lose we’ll respond by abandoning the tainted word “marriage” and using a Greek or Latin version of the word to refer to real marriages. It’s not the syllables that are sacred, it’s the meaning that God gave us for the relationship that we used to describe with that word.
Yes, and in a sense this means that the gays cannot really win, in the end, on marriage. As you note even if “marriage” would come to include same sex couples in the mind of the public, this would not magically elevate it ontologically. Nor would it negate the actual religious meaning.
I still hope there is a strong push back against gay marriage, though, because the advocates are self-deluded enough to believe in their hollow victory and to flaunt it.
I can just see the future (from my front door):
My son and his lady are talking about their future plans. She suggests "Marriage". He responds "Get married? Like GAY people? Uhg, no way!..."