Gay marriage is now a fact in Canada, but not in Alberta. I think that gay marriage has the potential, over the long term, to improve laws and judicial norms concerning heterosexual marriages. An article in the local paper today pointed out that gay couples who become married in Canada cannot legally get divorced. It will likely be years before the divorce laws are updated. A legal expert quoted in the article suggested that they simply change the definition of marriage in the divorce laws from "a union between one man and one woman" to "a union between two persons." The expert said that "this would have no effect on heterosexual divorces." I disagree. It is widely recognized that there is severe gender inequity in current divorce proceedings (in both the US and Canada): the male almost always gets screwed. The male is almost presumed to be at fault in most divorces, and he often ends up losing substantial property even if the divorce is due to misconduct by the female. Males almost always lose custody cases. Males often end up paying alimony even when the female is the higher earner:

In America, men are forced to pay around 40% of their income to ex-wives, regardless of wrongdoing on the woman's parts (often called "no-fault" alimony). She could commit adultery and beat her husband or kids, and none of it will influence the court's decision. [link]

If the eventual effect of gay marriages is to gender-neutralize the language of laws concerning marriage and divorce, then I would expect this to create new gender-blind precedents for divorce proceedings.