Perhaps the solution is to get the government (both State and Federal) completely out of the business of recognizing marriage as a contract between two partners.
Whenever a baby is born, the State simply registers the mother and father and holds them equally accountable for that child's welfare.
I'm not necessarily advocating for this, but I wonder if it might be more beneficial to children than the present marriage mess.
The "what if" you describe is already observed legally and happening right now. The "contract" is meaningless and swept away with a hand wave in no-fault divorce cases nationwide.
It is not a meaningless contract at issue here -it is the benefits and priveleges accorded to the married identified by such a contract as recognized by society that homosexuals want a piece of...
I agree both mother and father should be accountable for their offspring's welfare.
And I think that marriage is best apprehended as not merely a contractual obligation, but a sacrament. But there are legitimate reasons for government to support and accord special status/recognition to it.
It used to be that tolerance in the country meant toleration of things that would never be held as equivalent, equal or prefered practices. Tolerated meant "not criminalized."
Now we're expected to obliterate instititutions and social mores that have proven themselves over the course of long history--and for what?
Nothing as good. That's certain.