Family Pride’s Blog

There’s been a lot of talk about civil unions lately. In fact, civil unions have become very popular among democratic presidential candidates. Civil unions enable candidates (like John Edwards in the last debate) to say I things like gays should have rights but I believe marriage is between a man and a woman. Candidates have found civil unions to be a safer middle ground.

I realize that the climb to full equality is a process. But civil unions just don’t cut it for me. Greta Christina sums it up perfectly in her blog, stating:

There are legal reasons why they’re not equal — marriage is recognized in every state and indeed every country, while civil unions aren’t; so the rights and responsibilities don’t necessarily travel with you when you leave the state that granted them. There are emotional reasons — marriage is an institution/ ritual/ relationship that has existed for thousands of years, one that has tremendous resonance in our culture in a way that civil unions simply don’t. And there are moral reasons — as history has born out, separate but equal is pretty much by definition not equal.

Above all, marriage is the only currency of commitment that this country understands. I immediately think to hospital visitation rights. Would you trust a nurse or hospital administrator to interpret the rights that a civil union bestows? What about employers? According to Garden State equality, the equality organization for the state of New Jersey (where civil unions are the law), 1 out of 7 civil unioned couples is being denied partner benefits by employers.

The fact is, civil unions are unequal in every sense. I would like to think that history has taught us that separate is never equal.

But we’re making strides. Same-sex couples from Rhode Island who are married in Massachusetts are being recognized, and now New Mexico has followed suit. Yes, it’s a long climb to equality, but civil unions are not a rung in that ladder.

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