One more time: What's the difference between marriage and civil union?

[tedzbear]

I am so confused. A friend told me that a civil union does not include as many rights as a marriage license.

Is this true?

(I am queer but not planning on getting hitched anytime soon)

:kick:

[Dookus]

1. well it would depend on any specific legislation authorizing

civil unions.

However, Clark, Dean and Kerry all support providing equal rights, which means that EVERY right afforded opposite-sex married couples apply to same-sex couples.

My personal feeling is that the term "marriage" ought to be removed from all civil statutes. Marriage should be a church function, and Civil Union a governmental function.

As long as the rights are equal, I don't care what they call it. And I'm gay and in a committed relationship.

[tobius]

3. yes bearman

Dookus has it right. It also illustrates the crux of the matter.
A civil union amendment or statute can create an entirely equivalent partnership with identical rights of ownership, inheritance..yada,yada.

But the word or to some, the "concept" of marriage is extremely important and conveys many social, cultural, religious,hierarchal,paternal, phallocentric...blahh,blah meanings.

Some in their rush to aid the Default Democrat in the fall will accept the concept w/o the word. Others (supporters or not) are insulted that they should make do w/o the word as it implies "second-class citizen", "separate but equal","non-breeders", etc..etc..
Hope that helps- Ciao

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

15. Why not domestic partnerships instead of civil unions?

A domestic partnership can give all the rights/priviledges of marriage - regardless of gender or orientation - and doesn't get into people's sex lives nor their romantic interests. Domestic partnerships are already in many states.

If what people really want are equal rights - domestic partnerships are the way to go. If what people want is the government "legitimizing" or "mainstreaming" lesbian and gay relationships, then we'll lose, because the vast majority are against it.

You cannot legislate morality.

[onebigbadwulf]

2. It's a name to calm down

the fundamentalist idiots.

[Walt Starr]

4. There's just a little difference

Marriage would be the front of the bus.

Civil Union would be the back of the bus.

Separate but equal and all that rot.

[Shanty Oilish]

5. Two identical drinking fountains

One for whites, one for colored. There is no difference until you insist that this group use one and that group use the other.

[murielm99]

6. I think I see marriage as being

something that involves a vow.

A civil union is strictly a contract, even if it includes the same rights as a marriage.

Of course, marriage is a contract, too, and gay couples certainly do vow to stay together.

If we can define it that way, it might help keep it from being a wedge issue. Maybe a few of the not totally close-minded people will accept that, is we use semantics.

I am angry that the repukes are using this as an issue, but it is just like them to try to get ahead by using hate.

I support gay mariage. I really don't understand what all the fuss is about.

[tobius]

7. semantics?

not so sure about the evil repuke plan; this was triggered by a one vote majority (4 to 3) of judges on the left leaning Mass. Supreme court, they have required compliance by the legislature in May of this year. If you don't understand the "fuss", I'm not sure why you are angry.

[Lexingtonian]

8. one's a felony, the other's a misdemeanor

thus differing mostly in the social status class of criminal one gets to associate with.... (Ok, I lifted that straight from Ambrose Bierce.) :D

There are some differences in spousal benefits (rights, payments, etc) in state and federal law between the two. Details elude me.

One of my gay friends asserts that the political bottom line is what matters: marriage = sanctioned sex. A separate-but-equal status (civil unions) means, as a bottom line, only toleration. Not acceptance. This, I have come to believe too, is what is really at stake.

[Az]

9. Its the difference between

Drinking from the White's only water fountain and the Black's water fountain. You can expect one to have better water and always be working. You can expect the difference to always be held in your face. You can always expect to be seen as something less. That is the difference. Some would say not much difference. Others would say a world of difference.

[unblock]

10. marriage is religious and civil union is secular

or so it seems to me.

the government ought to grant civil unions, and civil unions only, to both hetero- and homo-sexual couples.

they should leave the 'marriage' designation to the churches.

that way, goverment treats everyone equally, and bigots still get to be bigots, it's just that they have to take their bigotry to the churches where it belongs.

[truthspeaker]

11. that's religious propaganda; marriage was always civil

Only in the last few hundred year did churches get involved (longer for Jewish and Muslim societies). In most European countries marriage is strictly civil; church ceremonies are not legally binding and clergy are not authorized to issue marriage licenses.

[tobius]

13. so, all atheists,agnostics

, etc..shouldn't be able to get married? yeah, that will work-- great headline "Dems against marriage for heterosexuals".

[foreigncorrespondent]

12. It is simple...

...it is all this separate but equal crap. In other words; "We will give you so much, but we simply cannot make you as equal as we are."

[mondo joe]

14. There is no definition of what a civil union is yet, for one thing

A state, like Vermont, can grant a civil union and can define it one way.

Another state can do something different.

And in no way is either civil union ercognized by the federal government.

And civil unions need not be recognized by other states at all.