An Amended View of Gay Marriage

In the past, I've been writing about civil marriage and legal partnerships for gay couples even though I intended to support full equivalent-to-married legal benefits for them.  What I've been realizing since then is that in both Canada and the USA, we have gay marriage [in states where it's allowed in the USA] with "religious exemptions."  The exemptions mean that any church official who normally performs marriages isn't required to perform gay marriage if it would offend their conscience.--That's what I understand.  So, churches which don't condone homosexuality aren't required to perform gay marriages.  If these churches want to take a stand on homosexuality, it's their right to do so, which I've been trying to express earlier.  And I believe it's a good thing for churches to be able to do that.  However, gay couples can have the right to be married elsewhere; and they can have the right to set up their homes together, instead of remaining alone or becoming involved with numerous partners.  Therefore, I believe I can support full gay marriage, as long as religious exemptions are allowed--and I would be firm on that point.  [But it hasn't been an issue in North America, as far as I know.  The religious exemptions have been in place, without question--to the best of my knowledge.]