Gay Marriage and Domestic Partner Benefits

With the Gay Marriage debate in Canada finally put to rest, the debate is heating up among our friends. Last year while Mark and I were on a holiday with two other couples that we have been friends with for years, the marriage question came up. Okay I brought up the marriage question if were going to be honest. I wanted to see what the other couples were thinking. It was an even split. First of all a bit of history, Mark and I are the "newest" couple at 13 years the other two have been together about 17 years and 25 years approximately. I was really surprised by the fear that the discussion brought out. I have always seen myself as being married at some point, but it was only in the past few years that it became a legal option, and took on more relevance for me. I have discussed marriage with Mark to some degree and he really does not want to get married. I don't think that it has anything to do with our relationship, at least I hope not, but he always tells me that its just a piece of paper. I won't go into all the reasons that it's not just a piece of paper as that's not the point of this rant.
Currently as a common law couple we share all the benefits of a married couple in the eyes of the law as well as our respective employers. The company that Mark works for and I used to work for is a very progressive employer and offered domestic partner benefits almost fifteen years ago. This was a time when there was no other legal option for gay and lesbian couples other than a common law situation. Now that there is an option, how long until companies start insisting that employees be legally married to continue to receive these same benefits. I don't think its a huge leap to make. Here is a link to an article from the U.S. where the trend has already begun.
Just something to think about while were on the quest for equality.