Marriage vs. Civil Union or Domestic Partnership
Civil union and domestic partnerships are a second-class status, and when people take on all the commitments and responsibilities of marriage they should not be treated like second-class citizens. While these legal mechanisms provide a measure of protections to same-sex couples and their families, they are no substitute for the full measure of respect, clarity, security and responsibilities of marriage itself. They exclude people from marriage and create an unfair system that often does not work in emergency situations when people need it most.
The only way to achieve equality is to provide the freedom to marry for all committed couples.
Despite their inequality, some states are creating these legal mechanisms to recognize gay couples. While this does show progress and provides same-sex couples with important responsibilities and protections previously withheld, we also see the repeal of these laws when the freedom to marry is achieved because they are found unequal to marriage.
The only way to achieve equality is to provide the freedom to marry for all committed couples.
Despite their inequality, some states are creating these legal mechanisms to recognize gay couples. While this does show progress and provides same-sex couples with important responsibilities and protections previously withheld, we also see the repeal of these laws when the freedom to marry is achieved because they are found unequal to marriage.
In June 2013, the United States Supreme Court struck down a central section of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, which excluded same-sex couples from marriage - and from the 1,100 protections and responsibilities that marriage triggers at the federal level. Now more than ever, we see why civil union and domestic partnership are unequal to marriage. The landmark decision extending federal protections to married same-sex couples does not apply to committed gay couples who enter into civil union or domestic partnership, mechanisms that have been created by the state as a specifically separate status from marriage.
DEFINITIONS
What do these terms mean?
CIVIL UNION: Civil union exists in three states: New Jersey, Illinois, and Hawaii. Civil union was first created in Vermont, in 2000, to provide some legal protections and responsibilities to gay and lesbian couples at the state level, but in 2009 the state legislature ended gay couples exclusion from marriage after realizing civil union created a second class citizenship.
Cobbled together as both the state and the nation were just beginning to engage in a conversation about the inherent unfairness of legal discrimination in marriage, civil unions have since proven to be ineffective, a separate but unequal status (pdf) that often heightens the need for access to both the tangible and intangible protections that only marriage can afford. The protections and responsibilities do not extend beyond the border of the states in which the civil union was entered, offer murky access to separation laws, and no federal protections are included with a civil union.
DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP: Domestic partnerships are a form of union under which gay (and sometimes non-gay) couples in some states or regions can formalize their partnerships. Oregon's domestic partnership law went into effect in February 2008. However, as with civil union the status remains a separate and unequal legal compromise which does not apply when a couple travels out of state, and offers no federal protections. Aside from Oregon, a hodge-podge of domestic partnership laws (statewide/district-wide in Nevada) and registries offer a wildly varying selection of protections and responsibilities which can change from zip code to zip code. Many domestic partnership registries offer no rights or protections at all and simply serve as a written acknowledgment of a couple's commitment to each other.
What do these terms mean?
CIVIL UNION: Civil union exists in three states: New Jersey, Illinois, and Hawaii. Civil union was first created in Vermont, in 2000, to provide some legal protections and responsibilities to gay and lesbian couples at the state level, but in 2009 the state legislature ended gay couples exclusion from marriage after realizing civil union created a second class citizenship.
Cobbled together as both the state and the nation were just beginning to engage in a conversation about the inherent unfairness of legal discrimination in marriage, civil unions have since proven to be ineffective, a separate but unequal status (pdf) that often heightens the need for access to both the tangible and intangible protections that only marriage can afford. The protections and responsibilities do not extend beyond the border of the states in which the civil union was entered, offer murky access to separation laws, and no federal protections are included with a civil union.
DOMESTIC PARTNERSHIP: Domestic partnerships are a form of union under which gay (and sometimes non-gay) couples in some states or regions can formalize their partnerships. Oregon's domestic partnership law went into effect in February 2008. However, as with civil union the status remains a separate and unequal legal compromise which does not apply when a couple travels out of state, and offers no federal protections. Aside from Oregon, a hodge-podge of domestic partnership laws (statewide/district-wide in Nevada) and registries offer a wildly varying selection of protections and responsibilities which can change from zip code to zip code. Many domestic partnership registries offer no rights or protections at all and simply serve as a written acknowledgment of a couple's commitment to each other.
Source: http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pages/marriage-versus-civil-unions-domestic-partnerships-etc
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