Gay commitment - has the social pressure transferred to the 'new style' relationships?

A friend was panicking the other day - he'd lost his engagement ring. He said that his partner would go mad. The next day I see him again and he's in a bad way - the two have split up. My friend had been out a few nights before for some drinks, then this, losing such a special thing. How could the two stay together - where's the dedication and commitment there.
And of course that's the rub. They've been together for five months. Then they're already engaged. I love that as well - how oblique that they're getting ready to marry whilst gay marriage is still outlawed in this country. Perhaps that's an indication of their forward planning and dedication, but I think of it more as optimism. What puzzles me is how now, gays have all the social pressure to show some formal commitment to one another just as heterosexuals.
For decades, gay society has been seen to be all about image, sex, sleeping around and so forth. Men have almost been expected to be, whilst arty stylish and 'cool', shallow, promiscuous and amoral. Suddenly, with the advent of the gay marriage debate, the issue seems to have quietly exploded in the minds of many gay men. Though not widely discussed, there has been a shift. Amongst many of my friends the prescribed way of doing things is frowned upon. Partly of course this is due to the fear of STIs and greatest of all HIV, but there is something else in it.
Coming out now involves an acceptance of gay culture (unless you’re one of the fabled ‘straight acting’ fags) and acknowledgement that one is part of this group. Being gay means something. Whilst perhaps previously there was no definite image attached to the ‘gay man’ the Queer Eye For The Straight Guy”/Queer as Folk/Versace/Elton John/McKellen media image has been slowly solidified in the minds of the middle classes. If I’m going to be part of this I want to be able to defend it and stand up for all its rights and wrongs. To me, a gay nightclub feels a hundred times safer than a straight one. I want to value those figureheads in the public eye. I care about the cultural image being settled on.
Central to this is the fact that for so long, gays have been seen to be flighty, but finally this is now changing. When we now feel we can commit to one another, those acts of faith will flood out.
Gay or straight, there’s no difference in the desire to stick together. Now it’s all just out of the closet.