marriage vs. civil unions

[tielan]

Okay, seeing as it's got my Twitter feed up in arms, and the terms may be slightly differently interpreted on this side of the Pacific:

What (according to you) is the diff between a marriage vs. a civil union in:
a) the US?
b) the UK?
c) Europe?
d) Australia?
e) other country of choice?

Any explanation encompassing legal rights, privileges, and religious perspectives is welcomed.

And keep it civil among yourselves. I have friends on both sides of the divide and you will respect each other's right to a differing opinion or you can bugger off.

Comments

[amilyn]

For completist sake, I'm mirroring my comment here and at DW from where I originally posted.

In the U.S., getting married can be done in a civil ceremony conducted by a justice of the peace or a judge. Such a ceremony involves getting a license (paying for same), getting it signed by the officiant of the ceremony, and filing it with the county.

Getting married by a religious official ALSO involves getting that same piece of paper and filing it with the county after it is signed by the religious officiant.

The thing that makes you legally married in the U.S. is filing the signed and witnessed license with the county gvmt.

But the ceremony and officiant, civil or religious, are equivalently accepted, so long as the paperwork is filed.

After that marriage is solemnized by that paperwork, the U.S. government confers certain privileges: right to file taxes jointly, right to be on one another's insurance, right of property inheritance, right of child care of mutually had or adopted children after the death of one partner, right to make medical decisions for one another, right to be with the marital partner in the hospital, protection from separation without legal management and splitting of mutually-obtained monies or property, and more.

In the U.S., a "civil union" does NOT confer all those rights, and is listed with only the rights the government wants to confer.

In the U.S., NO ONE who wishes to marry must do so in a merely civil/legal manner. In the U.S., NO ONE who wishes to marry must do so in a religious manner. Anyone who chooses may do one or the other or both type of ceremony and be considered equally married in the eyes of the government and in terms of the rights conferred by that status.

But, except in a few states, only a man and woman can obtain such a license and get married (in a civil or religious ceremony), and there are NO other ways to obtain the rights that such marriage confers for non-opposite-sex couples, except in those few states...and other states do not confer those rights, nor recognize the marriages of same-sex couples performed in states that DO have legal rights for same-sex couples to marry.

Since there is NO option for same-sex couples to gain these privileges, the current situation specifically denies access to these rights to all citizens of this country equally.

As an additional note, EVERY country I've learned about in Europe, Central America, and South America requires a civil marriage (with licensure, documentation, etc.) performed by a justice of the peace or judge or the like for the gvmt to recognize the marriage. The couple, in these nations, then has the option to have a religious ceremony *in addition*--either for tradition or fun or their own beliefs--or not to, but is still equally recognized as married under the law. BUT...if a couple in any of those countries were ONLY to get married in a religious ceremony, the government would shrug it off as legally meaningless in the eyes of the gvmt and law. The U.S. is the ONLY country I know of where a religious ceremony is considered by the government to be AS BINDING and as legally binding as the civil/legal marriage.

[skieswideopen]

In Canada, religious and civil ceremonies are also equivalent as long as the proper paperwork is filed. So basically the same as the United States. We don't have civil unions here, though.

(Also, FWIW, the United Church of Canada--our largest Protestant denomination by self-identification--was one of the groups that lobbied for the legalization of same-sex marriage. While some individual congregations disagree with that position, same-sex couples who desire a church wedding can generally find a United Church minister willing to perform the ceremony for them.)