Reply #13: Listen up [View All]

[Terran]

You are being fooled by semantics. You *already* have the right to be married, by any clergy person who will perform that service for you. Marriage is a religious and spiritual ceremony exclusively to which anyone is entitled, and it cannot be regulated by any government because of its religious nature.

Civil unions are the same for both heterosexuals and homosexuals. You have to get a marriage *license* to get married--there is a civil law aspect to the process totally separate from the ceremonial aspect. All you need is the right to get that marriage license, and be covered by the same state *and* federal laws that apply to straight unions. When you have that, you are equal in every way. It doesn't *matter* whether you call the process a "marriage" or "civil union." Being in a civil union does not in any way make you a second-class citizen. The only difference currently between the Vermont civil union law and any given heterosexual union is the applicability of federal laws to the union--the federal laws don't apply to the Vermont unions because the federal governemtn doesn't recognize the Vermont Civil Union law.