"Fundamental differences in basic values can seldom if ever be resolved at the ballot box; ultimately they can only be decided, though not resolved, by conflict. The religious and civil wars of history are a bloody testament to this judgment."
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962, 2002) p. 24
The fewer things a government attempts to do, the greater its chances of success in those things it does attempt.
In my view, the purpose of the state government is to provide a stable political and legal framework, and a set of common definitions (e g, how much milk is really in a gallon), to facilitate commerce. The government best serves this purpose when it limits its activities to these strategic objectives. Governments, even tyrannical ones, have only marginal success at changing individual behavior. For the state government to appease certain of its constituents by meddling in cultural issues is inefficient at best.