Recently I learned about a Muslim who refused a gay couple a room and has got into trouble about it. It was a holiday place, short rentals kind of thing. I am sorry for all of them, but most for the Muslim. For devout people, certain kinds of behaviour are simply haram: unacceptable. If our businessman is consistent, he will have to go out of the hotel business. That is why the churches are fighting the equality law: in Christianity, you have to “take up my cross and follow me.” Meaning that when the crunch comes, you must be ready to sacrifice anything to preserve the integrity of your religion and its beliefs. Of course, this reflects harshly on most organized religions; how many adherents, whatever their beliefs, are ready to do that?
What I suggest, and it is not tongue in cheek, is that every human person is entitled to enter into a commitment to another, subject to laws designed to protect the weak and the underaged. Why call it marriage? why does it have to be in a church? All couples conforming to the agreed model would be entitled to certain rights and protections, such as against domestic violence, entitlements to survivors’ benefits and such like. Just don’t make demands that the devout cannot entertain, as being against conscience. That is how schisms and civil wars begin.