@Tank Girl 437732 wrote:

and there have always been same sex couples – why cant they be married – or on the opposite – why cant men and women have civil partnerships if they want?

I guess for me the question is why should they? why cant it be given a different name. Not that I really care either way but I just dont see why marriage cant mean what its always meant, the union of a man and a woman. And in the same way I dont see why a civil partnership cant mean a union of a same sex couple.

As you say, I guess its very much a personal thing as to how much it matters and why it matters. Its all just semantics and symbolism anyway, hard to look at it logically when its seemingly an emotive concept.