Now There Are 5 States With Gay Marriage

In New Hampshire, same-sex couples can now get married. There are now five states, New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa, Connecticut and Massachusetts, where marriage equality is the law of the land. The District of Columbia is likely to join them in a few weeks, and there's an outside chance that New Jersey may enact marriage equality, too, but it must happen before January 19th and a new Republican Governor is inaugurated.

Other than that, in 2010 most of the action in LGBT rights will be happening at the federal level.

From the New York Times coverage of New Hampshire marriage equality, this excerpt stood out for me:

The marriage law grants no new rights to gays, who two years ago won the right to civil unions, but it eliminates the separate status so both heterosexual and homosexual couples will be considered married.

Democratic Gov. John Lynch, who personally opposes gay marriage, signed the legislation after lawmakers passed key language affirming religious rights. The law spells out that churches and religious groups can't be forced to officiate at gay marriages or provide other services.

Through late December, 40 gay couples had applied for marriage licenses valid for 90 days, said Stephen Wurtz, acting director of the state division of vital records. In 2009, 188 civil unions were performed with eight licenses still outstanding. Forty-two civil unions have been dissolved, though some were performed in Vermont. In 2008, 621 civil unions were performed.

Some couples -- like Burr, 51, and Blair, 46 -- plan to wed quickly. A few may gather at the Statehouse to ring in the New Year by exchanging vows in a general celebration. Others want to wait to honor non-legally binding commitment anniversaries from years past.

[...]

Burr and Blair said New Hampshire's marriage law, while important, does not grant them full equality.

''We're halfway there,'' Blair said. ''We got the state rights. We had civil unions. Now we have marriage. But until we get full equal rights under the federal law, we'll never be there. We'll never be truly equal.''

Look at the small numbers involved--in what way can someone else's marriage affect yours? There are still an estimated 18,000 legally married same-sex couples in California (I am in one of them), which is more gay marriages than any other state. If the argument by heterosexual supremacists is true, please explain what impact all these couples have on marriages around the country?