02-13-2011, 10:35 AM
Anyone who has studied their family coat of arm, in heraldry, know that the left hand is SINISTER!
I can see civil unions a very neat way to tidy up a whole bunch of legal dilemmas that are created by having a whole bunch of limited legal avenues that are legally granted with the 'simple' act of a legal marriage. It creates an avenue for close, non-familiar (and even some distance familiar) relationships to have familiar rights, including in times of emergency & death..
If a spiritual community does not recognize a civil union, or a civil marriage, as Pam noted in her story with the Catholic church, then it is NOT a recognized institution for that spiritual community. It is up to the spiritual community to decide what their spiritual community will accept.... & what a religious community accepts should not have a bearing on a legal structure.... just a little part of the Constitution...
Kinda brings me back to the early 80's when I bought a second house with a kayak racing buddy, and a lot of folks we knew thought it was a good thing that we were not 'living in sin" with some guys.... and now the census would categorize this same situation as a same-sex partnership, and some of the same people would have had their panties in a knot over it, if we still owned that house together! Sometimes you just cannot please the folks!
I can see civil unions a very neat way to tidy up a whole bunch of legal dilemmas that are created by having a whole bunch of limited legal avenues that are legally granted with the 'simple' act of a legal marriage. It creates an avenue for close, non-familiar (and even some distance familiar) relationships to have familiar rights, including in times of emergency & death..
If a spiritual community does not recognize a civil union, or a civil marriage, as Pam noted in her story with the Catholic church, then it is NOT a recognized institution for that spiritual community. It is up to the spiritual community to decide what their spiritual community will accept.... & what a religious community accepts should not have a bearing on a legal structure.... just a little part of the Constitution...
Kinda brings me back to the early 80's when I bought a second house with a kayak racing buddy, and a lot of folks we knew thought it was a good thing that we were not 'living in sin" with some guys.... and now the census would categorize this same situation as a same-sex partnership, and some of the same people would have had their panties in a knot over it, if we still owned that house together! Sometimes you just cannot please the folks!