I don't really understand the reasoning behind your second statement in this paragraph. Some people continue to care about and find meaning in marriage, whether a "vestigial institution" or not. For many people, the practical importance of marriage today is not the sole determinant of its value for them. Furthermore, I am not sure of the relevance of your examples. Not every same sex couple wants to get married. For those couples who do want to and cannot do so in their home state, I doubt that pointing to a few examples of people who can get married but don't want to will convince them of the obsolescence of marriage or that its obsolescence matters. Those who actually care about something and are denied it are, I believe, unlikely to abandon their desire to attain it merely because some of those who can have it don't want it.

-- ElizabethSullivan - 13 Apr 2012