Equal protection
I agree across the board, Dan. Those legal rights and privileges, as well as the legal responsibilities that are always the other side of that coin, should be granted to all couples who agree to be life partners, regardless of their gender.
The "protection of marriage" amendments currently in the state houses, as well as any Federal amendment that may be debated, are a last-ditch effort to halt social evolution in its tracks. As such, it is doomed to failure - I would rather it failed sooner than later.