>>>See above, but really...I agree with with civil unions. They can get all the same benefits of marriage. But, no...That's not good enough. It has to be called marriage too. Well it's not marriage, we already have that defined as between a man and woman. Why can not they accept the fact that people are willing to accept that they enter into legally binding civil unions? Why can't they just come up with their own darn term for that? Call it whatever they want, just don't call it married. <<<
Civil unions do not entitle couples to share one another's Social Security benefits. They do not entitle couples to share one another's pension benefits. Nor do they entitle a couple to claim the same tax deductions on their Federal tax returns.
If we could have a nationwide, federally recognized civil union law that granted gay couples all of the legal and financial advantages of a marriage, then I am sure most gay couples would be more than happy to avoid using the "m" word around those who might be frightened or offended by it...most gay couples are less concerned with labels and more concerned with the fact that they are paying the same taxes as straight people yet being denied the same benefits.