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You're right, society has changed quite a bit.

The other possibility that you seem to implicitly dismiss is that the original reasoning is understood perfectly well, has been debated to death, and has been found to no longer align with what the majority of people want out of society.

Chesterton's Gate argues against removing the fence out of haste and ignorance, but not against removing it after intense debate and careful consideration.

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And yet somehow, within a decade, we've redefined (almost out of existence) the single most fundamental human institution, an institution which has lasted for thousands of years and which virtually every great thinker prior to the last 15 years has understood as the prerequisite and foundation for any civilized society. This radical redefinition of marriage - and in its wake, of what it means to be human - couldn't have happened without incessant propagandizing and cheerleading from every element inside our popular and our news media. And yet how often did you hear this media allow through a coherent statement of the views opposing SSM, as expressed by, say, Ryan Anderson? How often was debate shut down a priori, as mere bigotry?

Careful reconsideration? I don't see how that played any part of this recent shift.

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