This stuff is a very sticky situation, I can find myself on both sides of fence easily.
For one, I support gay love, everybody in the world is entitled to love, gay or straight.
I might support gay marriage but I do not support civil unions, period.
As far as I am concerned it's an "equal but separate" law and term, and if Obama ever signed it into national law, he might as well sign it next to a "blacks only" water fountain because he'll be sending the country back 40 years if he did.
At the same time, I think gays should be vehement about gay marriage and their rights and frankly, if it's not worth fighting for what you really want, then don't fight for it. If I were gay, I would want to be equal and get married personally. I think it's ridiculous to separate gays as something different. "When I grow up, I want to get a civil union, mommy!!!"...eh? They should just add another bullet in the dictionary.
Marriage
Definition 1: A union of eternal love between a man and a woman under god and/or state.
Definition 2: A union of eternal love between a (wo)man and a (wo)man under state and possibly Church if the church authority approves it.
The purpose, to me, of government recognizing heterosexual marriages is give them tax cuts, incentives to have children. Our children is the future of the country and gays cannot, per say, provide that for us. But I think gay couples that adopt children/got children one way or another, absolutely deserve the same rights as married heterosexual couples but until then, I wouldn't give it to them to prevent any "Chuck and Larrys" trying to scam the government...