Spade and Willse make a very good argument against marriage equality and the institution of marriage. From previous Sociology courses I know that marriage is a modern institutionalized form of slavery, but unlike Spade and Willise I never used this information to critically analyze marriage equality. Marriage symbolically represents ownership of one person by another because in a patriarchal society a wife "belongs" to her husband. Marriage is a tool that reproduces and maintains gender inequality and the patriarchal structure of our society because marriage defines the owner as the husband, and the property as the wife. This owner/property dynamic in marriage is the reason that Spande and Willse are against marriage equality, because the function of marriage is to create this binary and it will be reflected in same sex marriages as well. Marriage equality will not provide equality because the inequality that is reproduced through marriage is not addressed.
Although I agree with Spade and Willse that the larger problems with the institution of marriage should be addressed, I don't believe we should discourage same sex marriage. Addressing the reproduction of inequality through the dynamic in marriage is a huge project that will take many years to accomplish, and the issue hasn't even become part of public concern yet. Marriage equality however is being addressed right now, and is a tangible step towards reducing inequality.
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