[Purrybonker]

You are absolutely right, JP. This whole gay rights/marriage/adoption/what-have-you issue is not that important to most people (on scale) - because most people aren't gay.

But it's because it isn't important to most people that it has to be important to our legislators. This is the epitomy of why America was built on the entrenchment of individual rights and freedoms in it's constitution. Minorities and individuals must be protected from the whims of legislators from time-to-time for exactly the reason that you have stated.

Because it isn't important and it would be too easy for a right leaning, socially conservative government to (on a right-wing governmental blip) legislate against individuals or a minority group for actions that have no physical consequence to their fellow citizens.

And it is a conservative vs. liberal issue, JP - it's only the extreme conservatives that propose to interpose government into the bedrooms and relationships of private citizens. The difference between being a conservative and a liberal implicitly means that, even though a liberal and a conservative may feel the same way about a certain issue, the conservative will tend to err on the side of legislating in the face of said issue rather than being tolerant of it.