marriage is a state sanctioned arrangement because it benefits the state: married couples produce children, who perpetuate society, who pay taxes, etc. it's in the state's interest to encourage marriage and family formation. this is how it has always been throughout the history of civilization

when the state (and yes, it was the state through its cathedral proxies) pushed legalizing gay marriage onto an unwilling and resistant citizenry, i think that it lost a lot of legitimacy in the unconscious minds of a lot of people. a state that openly disrespects and mocks married couples, families, and children is one that self-evidently no longer considers marriage and families to be in its interest

between this and the state's open embrace of mass immigration - in order to replace the native-born marriages and children that no longer occur under its watch - the western state has forfeited much of its implied legitimacy. it's now openly hostile to the very people who contribute the most to it

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5799041&forum_id=2/#49436908)