Why Won\'t Civil Unions Suffice?

Why Won\'t Civil Unions Suffice? Related Information:

Marriage offers more to people than just a couple of wedding rings and a commitment. Marriage is an institution creating a legal status that guarantees its members certain benefits and rights. But in most states of the U.S., as in many other countries throughout the world, same-sex couples are not granted the same privileges as the married even when in committed relationships.

A civil union is defined as the relationship between two people of the same gender. In 2000, the state of Vermont passed a landmark bill for gay and lesbian rights pertaining to civil unions. This civil union bill recognizes same-sex relationships and grants partners a legal status similar to marriages. Benefits provided to civil union partners in Vermont include: the right to visit when one partner is hospitalized, the right to dispose of the partner’s body upon death, inheritance rights without a will, and family medical leave to care for a sick partner.

Vermont recognizes people of the same gender in a civil union, but the federal government and other states do not. While civil unions are granted state benefits, they do not receive any federal privileges that marriages do. The federal government offers many opportunities to married couples, but denies these benefits to couples of the same gender. Although the Vermont ruling in 2000 was revolutionary, gay advocates still have a long way to go to gain true equality.

Marriage represents all that is tradition, typical, and conventional. The union of same-sex individuals does not result in procreation, the catalyst for most marriages. Thus, many people are against same-sex civil unions and same-sex marriages because they believe they are wrong, immoral, and a contradiction of society’s basic values.

In addition, marriage is a term that is well-understood by people in many cultures, countries, and religions. Civil union, on the other hand, is not a definition that is easily identified with. Civil union partners will continue to encounter issues because the legal status that they have gained is not widely acknowledged or accepted. As if that wasn’t enough of a problem to consider, Vermont is the only state that allows civil unions. Couples seeking a civil union in Vermont do not have to be residents of the state to be granted a license for such a union. Yet, once they return to their respective locales or travel out of Vermont, where does this leave them? Their status is not recognized in other places.

Married couples enjoy 1,049 federal benefits resulting from their legal status, but such rights do not apply to civil unions. Once again, those in a committed same-sex relationship are denied basic rights that are stated in the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution. This Amendment says, “… no state shall make or enforce any law which shall [...] deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

At the moment, civil unions are not sufficient enough to offer gay and lesbian couples the opportunities that are afforded married couples. There are too many discrepancies and not enough options to make civil unions truly what they should be – the equivalent to marriage. But perhaps that is the point. Civil unions will never equate with marriage unless the same rules apply for all persons regardless of their sexual orientation. At some time in the future, there may be no need for civil unions at all, if in fact, same-sex partners are offered the right to get married.