All the muss and fuss about who can/cannot or should/should not marry. It's on the May ballot here in NC. What is the difference between marriage and civil unions? People seem unsatisfied by civil unions but doesn't that give them all the legal privileges they see? What does marriage bring to the table that civil unions do not? Are there not non-gay people who pursue civil unions? What sets marriage apart?
A civil union is not a marriage. The whole separate but equal line of thinking has been debunked before with segregation. Please don't act like having a separate title for gays is while having the established title for heterosexuals is OK.
The fact that it's a legally distinct agreement means it would always be at risk for subordinate status to marriages. Contracts and laws may need to be amended or clarified to state both terms. There's also the underlying spirit of exclusion and bias under which the phrase was probably originated.
I agree there shouldn't be any distinction between the two. The government should not recognize marriages at all.
many things including visitation rights and public benefits. a simple "marriage vs. civil union" search would explain some if not all of the hundreds of differences including: http://www.now.org/issues/marriage/marriage_unions.html
Excellent. I apologize if I was premature. I thought you were asking in a pointed way and with an agenda.
Are you new here? Of course he was. You know giddyup is our most slippery poster here. This thread will probably go 50 pages all adding up to giddyup saying, "Who, me?" And he's old enough he probably supported "separate but equal" the first time it came around.
He might, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt at least to start off. If he shows later in the thread that he does have an agenda, then I can drop out.
Giddy have agenda? That's unpossible! Remember, all these threads from him begin 'innocently,' whether something on how Ted Nugent isn't racist or the latest chain mail that he's just 'interested' in discussing.
If a country doesn't have laws that treat spouses differently from strangers, then I agree there's no real difference. If a country treat civil union partners the same as spouses, then I would also agree there's no real difference.
I don't pretend to an innocence I don't possess and I doubt you can find one example of me doing so. For you it is like a trademark.
What the hell are you talking about? I thought civil unions were the equivalent of marriage but without the religious overlay... turns out they are not. If I thought you were open-minded at all, I'd go looking for one of my pro-gay marriage posts from years past. Why bother? Disappointing.
