Sounds like an excellent plan. Honest people on both sides should want to de-escalate this conflict. Marriage should not depend upon government recognition to sanctify it. All government should do is enforce civil contracts involving voluntary living relationships (wills, trusts, financial arrangements, etc.).
Then gays who wish to get "married" can do so in a church of their choosing which accommodates such marriages. In their eyes they are married, and they can simply ignore anyone who disagrees. Conversely, people who object to gay marriage can deny that the gay couple is truly married and simply ignore such claims of marriage. Each side goes its own way, and ignores the other side. Live and let live.
Of course that won't satisfy the radicals on either end of the spectrum. Those who see the gay marriage issue as an organizational tool for legitimatizing homosexuality will not be happy with the reduction in polarization. Those who see homosexuality as the Devil's tool for promoting sin and damnation and the destruction of civilization will despise a "live and let live" approach.
But the rest of us will welcome an end to this battle.
I wholeheartedly agree with your entire post.
Government has no authority to require someone to get it's permission to marry....and that's exactly what the word license means in legalese.
It is a contract between two People, and government doesn't get to decide who may or may not enter into such a contract.
As you said, though- Of course that won't satisfy the radicals on either end of the spectrum. is quite true. Those of us who find homosexuality rather disgusting must realize this dividing line between government and the People, and understand that by being publicly civil to homosexuals who identify themselves as 'married' also keeps government out of our own marriages.