One case that says a lot.

I still run across moronic conservatives and even some very stupid libertarians who argue that gay couples can get all the same rights as straight couples merely through private legal contract. Of course that is just so much bullshit. A private legal contract would not save this couple from forced separation. And while marriage laws are state issues, under the so-called state's rights doctrine, immigration law is not. So, yes Virginia, there is a need for federal recognition of gay relationships. Marriage would stop the deportation process if they were straight. It might not mean the spouse can stay since the Feds routinely separate legally married people in their zeal to keep the xenophobes happy, but it would stop the process until the individual case were adjudicated.

In addition this case smashes the claims made by the bigots at the National Organization for (sic) Marriage. NOM claims that gay marriages would be a push for special rights not equal rights. Equal rights would give both kinds of couples legal rights in regards to immigration. Special rights would give one set rights that are not enjoyed by the other set. The only people pushing for special rights is NOM, which uses the Mormon supplied funding it receives to deny gay couples even the right to be together, let alone marry.