All men created equal?

Last night I watched a very interesting clip from the Colbert Report about gay marriage. This led me to think about our in class discussions about civil rights. As we have discussed in our modern times everyone has equal rights now, but do they really? Clearly gays in our country do not have the same right as others, they are not allowed to marry and people are openly hostile to them as an existence. Regardless of whether it is a choice or not, (which is a whole other issue), gays should have the same right as all other types of people. It was not until last week that hate crimes legislation covered hate crimes against gays. To me that is ridiculous, how can a clear minority such as gays, not be covered under the hate crimes? Where so often in the news we hear about these attacks on gays throughout our country. In the show, Colbert talks about how in the state of Washington where gay civil unions has been passed, a group of people have started a petition to change the law. However these people refuse to produce the list because they do not want the people who signed the petition to be outed. As Colbert says about these people, "I don't believe it is a choice, I believe you're born thinking gays don't have the right to get married or even be joined in union. And folks, the gays have no right to out those people". In his sarcastic tone, Colbert describes these people perfectly. These people are making decisions for others which have absolutely no direct effect on there lives what so ever based on either a religious preference or the fact that "they just don't like gays". Who gives these people the right to take away civil liberties from others that they are granted? This also leads me to the point that, should religious preference have a say over our judicial system? Should these people be able to pass laws taking away civil liberties based solely on their religious preference?