@Atreju: There are a number of reasons that gay or lesbian couples would like to be able to get married. Part of it is cultural: despite all the things that marriage used to be about (mainly a man having a claim on a woman), nowadays marriage is seen by many as being more about love. It's a declaration of commitment to a relationship, which gay couples would also like to be a part of. In terms of concrete benefits, in some countries like the USA, there are many rights/benefits that are afforded to married couples that couples just living together don't have. And example would be that if one half of a gay couple get's hospitalised, a hospital may not allow the other half to see them because they are not family. If they were married the hospital would be unable to do such a thing. There are also issues about inheritance and who get's to make decisions regarding the health of the injured person - if a couple is unmarried the family may get to make those sorts of decisions.
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@Atreju: There are a number of reasons that gay or lesbian couples would like to be able to get married. Part of it is cultural: despite all the things that marriage used to be about (mainly a man having a claim on a woman), nowadays marriage is seen by many as being more about love. It's a declaration of commitment to a relationship, which gay couples would also like to be a part of. In terms of concrete benefits, in some countries like the USA, there are many rights/benefits that are afforded to married couples that couples just living together don't have. And example would be that if one half of a gay couple get's hospitalised, a hospital may not allow the other half to see them because they are not family. If they were married the hospital would be unable to do such a thing. There are also issues about inheritance and who get's to make decisions regarding the health of the injured person - if a couple is unmarried the family may get to make those sorts of decisions.