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Why are Catholics who even entertain the thought of married priesthood treated like lepers?

Well, simply because, as this article says, you are exactly wrong. You aim to fix the problem by relaxing rules. From what I've read of Catholic reform movements throughout the history of the Church, the vast majority of them moved forward with a reaffirmation of vows, or a reimposition of disciplines, not a relaxation.

We've gone through the biggest relaxation of Church discipline in history over the past 40 years (particularly in this country and Europe) and what do we have to show for it? Declining vocations and a massive scandal. You don't think the two are related? The solutions offered by the 'no celibacy' boosters seem like more of the same poison that has already wrought such terrible damage. I say enough is enough!

You aim to fix the problem by relaxing rules.

I said nothing about relaxing the discipline of celebacy to fix the pedophile/ephebophile problem in the priesthood. I don't believe relaxation of the discipline to be a solution to any problems. However, it is very interesting to read the posts on this thread.

If Mother Church ever decided to relax the discipline and make celebacy optional (as practiced in the east), would you have a problem with it? Do you see no value in married clergy? Can't these men be as holy as a celebate priest? Does it matter that a man once married finds he has a calling to serve God in the priesthood?