> --- budge <budge at el-pleasant.org> wrote:
>
> > what is second class about civil unions?
>
> Everything or nothing, depending on how you define "civil union."
exactly.
> If all you want is a designation that says, "hey, we're in
> a committed relationship together," then there's nothing
> second class about it. It could be argued that if such
> unions only pertain to gay people, it is exclusionary or a
> "special interest".
no, that's not what i have in mind. if you want that feely good stuff, just got to a liberal church and get married. i don't see a need for the state to be involved in these sorts of things. or in children's birthday parties either.
> If you want the legal protections and legal recognitions
> that married couples receive in terms of survivorship and
> right to make medical decisions, etc., then you might want
> to examine the language of how most proposed "civil union"
> bills are written. Those protections are not stated or
> promised.
i believe Vermont's law does promise these things and that is the sort of civil union law i am intrested in and wonder why anybody would disparage.
> And if you want full equal rights and benefits such as IRS
> recognition equal to that of married couples (tho' in some
> situations that may be self-defeating), or recognition in
> survivorship for social security benefits, then civil
> unions are wasted paper and worthless pablum created to
> satisfy a false sense of equal under the disguise of an
> eviscerated "separate but equal" banner.
yes, that is thanks to bill clinton signing DOMA. w/o repealing that, there will never be federal (irs, ss, military) benefits of marriage for non-marriage civil unions.
speaking as someone who is planning to get married (again!) to somone not of the same gender, i wish there was a meaningful civil union law for EVERYBODY. i would do that, rather than get married. i would like to see the institution of marriage relegated to the trash bin (or to the churches -- same thing AFAIC) and have civil benefits of marriage accrue to anyone who wants to enter into a civil union.
-- no Onan
Truth is the most valuable thing we have - so let us economize it.
-- Mark Twain