Aye, on this one, the US is about 20 years behind us. We had that sort of nasty campaign for <a rel="nofollow" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bermondsey_by-election%2C_1983" title="">Bermondsey in '83</a>, now it's not an issue, my old MP in Exeter got a civil partnership last year (he's a junior govt minister), the radio did a vox-pop, the reaction was "so?"

It'll get better, but in some respects the catharsis is needed, the old guard are trying to retrench, but they're losing, mostly.