Gays should be allowed to marry, however, calling it a different name is a good and a bad thing. A lot of straight couples these days only get married because it's the done thing and also it's basically seen as the only option. If civil partnerships were equal to marriage in terms of how people view them then I would expect to see a huge decrease in the amount of couples getting "married" and a huge increase in the amount of civil partnerships. People see civil partnerships as something that only gay couples can have and that they are less important because they are not sanctified by "God" but it makes no difference. "Being gay isn't a choice and even if it was, people choose to be assholes and they can still get married"