Is the Push for Same-Sex Marriage Actually Hurting GLBT Civil Rights?

I like to consider different viewpoints--if I didn't I never would have started this blog. Here is a different twist on the puch for same-sex marriage, something I have spent a lot of space writing about here.

The blog "Proceed At Your Own Risk" recently posted a piece that asked the question in the title of this post.

"As emotionally difficult and as politically incorrect as it may be, we owe it to ourselves to question if the gay marriage fight at this time in the history of the gay civil rights movement is anything more than a distraction pulling us away from the real battle. Has this national issue become more of a danger to our future than a promise for a better life?"

".....the fact remains that in most states I can still be fired from my job for being gay, not hired for being gay, denied housing for being gay and even denied business services for being gay.
Marriage has come to dominate and in fact completely eclipse the overall fight for gay civil rights. Strategically speaking, are we best served by this? Or are we and our leaders heading in a very wrong direction?"

"I applaud gay couples who are attempting long term commitments and those who are raising children, but it is not a practice that stands at the core of gay culture and I question whether it should be the central issue in the fight for our civil rights and full equality as Americans and human beings. Should the central issue in the fight for equality be an end to the kinds of discriminatory practices that effect each and every one of us, not just some of us."

"So are gay men and women exempted from constitutional protections because we are mentally ill, sinners or both? It must be one or the other. And the conclusion must be that if conservatives have their way with us, the mentally ill, the divorced, the adulterous, the dishonest and the covetous are next."

"Gay marriage is an effective way to divert us from these realities and betrayals of Constitutional law. It's easy to cry "God" over marriage, not so easy over housing and employment. But thanks to the marriage battle, politicians, preachers and bigots disguised as "social conservatives" can bundle up our rights in a nice little wedding bouquet and toss it into the air."

Are at least some GLBT activists taking the easy way out by focusing on same-sex marriage at the expense of issues like fair employment and housing rights which impact a broader section of the GLBT community?

There is a spirited discussion about that taking place on "Proceed At Your Own Risk," and I would like your thoughts on that question.