If equal rights for all is our end goal, can we call it something else? A civil union. Or a domestic partnership. Or something, anything, else.
An issue that gay rights supporters have with civil unions/domestic partnerships is that they are not legally equivalent to marriages. For example, a married gay couple or registered domestic partners are not treated equally under federal tax law. Look at
California\'s publication from 2007 taxes to see all the hoops RDPs had to go through to comply with the differences in federal and state tax laws. Look at
this publication to learn about California RDPs to understand how domestic partnerships are not equivalent to marriage. From the pamphlet:
Registered domestic partners do not receive any of the 1,138 rights and benefits of married couples under federal law.
One of those rights is in regard to immigration status. If a gay couple enter into a RDP and one of them is not an American citizen, the partnership can not be used to secure permanent resident status; in fact, the RDP can be used as evidence against the non-US citizen in an immigration hearing. A non-US citizen who marries someone of the opposite sex does not have the same immigration problems.
If someone is desperate to marry, then they probably would have taken the opportunity to marry when it was offered.
Partners who are considering binding themselves to a life-long commitment do not do so lightly. Just because the opportunity to marry in California was open for a few months does not mean that everyone should have rushed into the decision to get married. Many straight couples live together for years because that is the level of commitment that works for their relationship at the time. Gay couples are not so different.
At the heart of the issue is that a domestic partnership is not equal to a marriage. If people want to preserve marriage as a religious ceremony, then I would have no problem with all legal marriages in the US being referred to as "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships", so long as that status is equivalent in all respects regardless of whether the relationship is gay or straight. What matters to me is the legal rights and responsibilites that come with marriage, and the fact that current laws are seperate and not equal.
