eta, I'm not suggesting you're otherworldly.
Just, I bet if you polled people in South America, China, India and Africa, many of them would not understand the concept of "marriage" between two people of the same sex. Also, if you polled (God love 'em, I know I do) the geriatric set, many of them would probably be confused about it. They might well be open-minded enough to accept two people of the same sex wanting to commit to each other and have that commitment recognised, but they wouldn't necessarily understand why such a union would be called a "marriage" - given that many older people understand marriage to be between a man and a woman who intend to be together forever AND PROCREATE - something that gays and lesbians will never be able to do, unless science meddles with biology even more than it already has. Homosexuals can certainly raise children together, but they can't actually produce them (unless we're talking about a gay and a lesbian).
Seems to me to be a significant enough difference to warrant a new word, but obviously I'm in the minority, so forget I spoke.
