Why is homosexuality a big deal?

How many of you believe that homosexuality is wrong? How many of you believe it is a sin? And how many of you actually care about it? Well here are my personal answers to those questions; No, No, and No i don't. Many people today believe homosexuality should be outlawed and married homosexuals should not have the same rights as heterosexual couples. My first thought was "Are you serious?!?!?". It is against my moral values and principles to discriminate against others based on their sexuality, but it seems many americans don't share these same values. Oh, sure I am as open-minded as the next person, but I just can't stand to see people being discriminated just for being different. Many people I talk to bring up the whole "Well God says this about it" or "God said that.." and to be honest, I am tired of people hiding behind religion just to make themselves seem righteous when they bully another group of people. Me and my church (born methodist, but chose agnostic), and we happened to have a discussion on this very topic. Well, we went around the room and some people said they don't really care about the whole issue, but one person said that he is disgusted by the sight of homosexuals giving public displays of affection in school. He said, and I quote, "I just want to throw up at the sight of two men kissing and holding hands in the hallways". Automatically I asked him, "Well, what about two women doing the same thing?". He answered "Oh, that's ok, but two men is just plain wrong." I was literally stunned by the fact that he just proved that he is a hypocrite and what women think of a stereotypical man, sex driven pigs. Which in all honesty I can not deny that fact, being a man myself. Now back on topic, this is what seems to be wrong right now. That was his own personal view, so I didn't get too worked up (i.e. he didn't spontaneously combust when I proved him wrong and he stayed quiet for the rest of the time), but he was just saying his personal view and told it to the group straight forward, it's people who use religion however, that really gets under my skin. I was talking to a group of friends at lunch about this issue and two out of the 8 said that in the bible it says homosexuals are a sin against nature. What did I say? "The bible is only a book, just as much as Harry Potter or the Da Vinci Code, and if I am wrong may I be sturck by lightning now. If the bible told me to kill everything in sight, I wouldn't do it. " Unfortunetly the lightning bolt didn't come and I just went on my marry way. I'm the bible is worthless, it has some good moral values within it, but people need to stop following it word for word mainly because then you would take most of lifes pleasures from your life. Now i may be wrong on this, I rather have someone come up to me and say "I hate you for such and such reason.", then have them go through this whole thing saying "John something something says Your kind is a sin and will burn forever" (Im not a bible reader, and If you don't know why then just ignore it)
Also, can someone explain to me how the hell the government somehow magically have been granted power over religious affairs? When i heard homosexual marriage was outlawed in many states(now including California), I was furriated. I understand people say that marriage is a holy cerimoney where two people are joined as one (then most likely seperated later), but for the government to just swoop in and say "Oh, well according to the people in this state, it seems that you will no longer be allowed to marry for this is an illegal act by law. Oh also, for those of you that are married congratulations. You now have a piece of paper that "says" your married, but you will not have the same perks as a heterosexual couple." That to me is basically a slap in the face and a kick to the gut for these people. Who has the right to say that homosexuals shouldn't share the same rights as heterosexuals. It just seems that Americas motto of "Land of the Free" seems too unfitting for it these days. Well Im done, I may have been vague and no I don't care about the grammer errors, so long as I get my point out there.