Information AboutCivil Union |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT CIVIL UNION | |
| lgbt civil rights | |
| same-sex marriage | |
| vermont culture | |
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A civil union is a recognized union similar to Marriage . Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many Developed Countries in order to provide Same-sex Couples with Right s, benefits, and Responsibilities similar (in some countries, identical) rights and responsibilities to opposite-sex civil marriage. In some Jurisdiction s, such as Quebec and New Zealand, civil unions are also open to opposite-sex couples. Most civil-union countries recognize foreign unions if those are essentially equivalent to their own; for example, the United Kingdom , lists equivalent unions in Civil Partnership Act Schedule 20 . Many people are critical of civil unions because they say they represent separate status unequal to marriage ("marriage Apartheid "). 12 Others are critical because they say civil unions allow Same-sex Marriage by using a different name. TERMINOLOGY The terms used to designate recognized same-sex unions are not standardized, and vary widely from country to country. Government-sanctioned relationships that may be similar or equivalent to civil unions include Civil Partnership s, Registered Partnership s, Domestic Partnership s, Significant Relationship s, Reciprocal Beneficiary Relationships , Common-law Marriage , Adult Interdependent Relationships , Life Partnerships , Stable Unions , Civil Solidarity Pacts , and so on. The exact level of rights, benefits, obligations, and responsibilities also varies, depending on the laws of a particular country. Some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to adopt, while others forbid them to do so, or allow adoption only in specified circumstances. As used in the United States , beginning with the state of Vermont in 2001, the term ''civil union'' has connoted a status equivalent to marriage for same-sex couples; '' Domestic Partnership '', offered by some states, counties, cities, and employers since as early as 1985, 3 has generally connoted a lesser status with fewer benefits. However, the legislatures of the West Coast states of California , Oregon , and Washington have preferred the term ''domestic partnership'' for enactments similar or equivalent to civil union laws in East Coast states. Civil unions and kinship Legally, marriage is a means of establishing Kinship outside of bloodline.4 This concept of kinship is one that permeates society, and is encoded in Western Common Law as well as the laws of every nation, including 1049 federal laws in the United States.5 Kinship conveys not only rights and privileges, but duties and even restrictions. For example, judges cannot preside over certain of their kin according to Western common law.6 Because civil unions are a new concept, they do not instruct business, the courts or other agencies how to apply the centuries of kinship-related doctrine, custom and law to these arrangements which is one of the primary differences cited between marriage and civil unions. Examples To illustrate the possible difference between civil unions and domestic partnerships, the state of New Jersey enacted a domestic partnership law in 2004, offering certain limited rights and benefits to same-sex and different-sex couples; however, after a State Supreme Court Ruling in 2006 that same-sex couples must be extended all the rights and benefits of marriage, the state legislature passed a new civil unions law, effective in 2007, which fulfills the court's ruling. In California, on the other hand, where domestic partnership has been available to same-sex couples since 2000, a wholesale revision of the law in 2005 has made it, like the New Jersey civil union law, equivalent to marriage in nearly every respect at the state level, though neither is recognized by the federal government. See Also: Civil unions in New Jersey Domestic partnership in California HISTORY The first civil unions in the United States were offered by the state of Vermont in 2000. The Federal Government does not recognize these unions, and under the U.S. Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA) of 1996, other U.S. states are not obliged to recognize them. By the end of 2006, Connecticut and New Jersey had also enacted civil union laws; New Hampshire followed in 2007; furthermore, California's Domestic Partnership Law had been expanded to the point that it became practically a civil union law, too. The same might be said from 2007 for Domestic Partnership In Maine , Domestic Partnerships In District Of Columbia , Domestic Partnership In Washington , and Domestic Partnership In Oregon (effective 1 January 2008 ). Since 2005, both New Zealand and the United Kingdom have offered civil unions similar to marriage nationwide, although in the UK they are termed Civil Partnerships . As of May 2007, only five nations ( The Netherlands , Belgium , Canada , Spain , and South Africa ) offer full Same-sex Marriage . The U.S. state of Massachusetts offers state-wide Same-sex Marriage . LIST OF JURISDICTIONS ALLOWING SAME-SEX UNIONS United States Jurisdictions in the U.S. that offer civil unions or domestic partnerships granting nearly all of the state-recognized rights of marriage to same-sex couples include
States in the U.S. with domestic partnerships or similar status granting some of the rights of marriage include
Massachusetts and Iowa are the only states that offer same-sex marriage. Same-sex marriage was legalized in 2004 in Massachusetts, and on August 31 , 2007 in Iowa. FOX News: First gay couple legally married in Iowa after judge rules state ban unconstitutional Due to the federal Defense Of Marriage Act or DOMA , same-sex couples in marriages, civil unions, or domestic partnerships in the U.S. do not have the 1,138 rights that a married couple has under federal law. 7 Canada In Canada :
were extended to same-sex couples before the enactment (2005) nationwide of Same-sex Marriage In Canada . Between June 2003 and June 2005, courts in eight provinces and one territory of Canada extended marriage to include same-sex couples. Mexico In Mexico :
In South America:
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