>Doug wrote >I have a few questions that I wonder if anyone here has the answers to. >What is the substantive difference between marriage and civil union? If >they are for all intents and purposes synonymous other than the >same/opposite sex angle, will the effect of an amendment prohibiting same >sex marriage be that it in fact outlaws civil unions as well because they >_are_ synonymous. > >If you do outlaw same sex marriage but allow same sex civil unions, what >keeps people from calling a civil union a marriage? Are we going to have >marriage police arresting people for using improper terminology?
Quick response since no one took a stab at this one. I heard some great questions like this on an NPR segment last week with some lawyers answering "unusual" questions people wanted to ask. IIRC a marriage recognizes legal rights mentioned previously (grossly simplified- healthcare decisions, access to put on insurance, ability to coparent, will/death stuff, etc ). While a state may recognize and write these laws, the Defense of Marriage Act (?) is a federal level law (?) that mandates that one state need not recognize anything but a man and woman as "married". And this governs federal things such as dependents for tax filing, etc (can't think of more this moment). States can set up civil unions, but apparently there is no language which is generally accepted on what this would entail on a federal level, and may only give a few basic "rights" (for lack of a better word for one in a rush) to those involved. Defense of Marriage Act (?) also says that states/fed gov need not recognize any definition of marriage from another country as well. The two "specialists" gave some great examples and such. Dee on the fly _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
