Reply #68: This has not been done in other places [View All]

[Ms. Toad]

In other countries, statuses other than marriage do not grant the same set of rights (with perhaps the exception of Iceland, Sweden, and the UK), and the relationships in those countries are separate statuses available only to same gender couples, and the legal status of the couples is not recognized beyond the borders of the country that granted the status except at the whim of the other countries.

In the US there are civil unions. They are not valid beyond the borders of the state that created them. This is not an equal status.

Those countries which offer gender neutral marriages (including at least Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, and Spain), the rights are equal and marriages are recognized by every state/country which permits same gender marriages (and by some which do not - including New York).

It will require litigation, regardless of the path to equality. For people who are adamantly opposed to same gender marriage, the name is not really the sticking point, so they will fight us in court regardless.

The question is whether you want a few cases (going the marriage route - establishing that certain state constitutions require equality, then establishing that reciprocity is required), OR whether you want to have to write or amend literally tens of thousands of laws just to create the new status and then fight the religious bigots in court IN ADDITION to all the work that was done to create the new status.

I do understand the history. I also understand the law and the intricate interrelationships that took decades to create and tweak to the point that, for example, if my spouse dies and a second "wife" pops up there are rules for sorting out (1) whether the first marriage was legally valid - even if it was created in a country that has very different marriage laws (2) whether the first marriage was legally ended - even if it ended in a country other than where it was created - or where the estate is being settled and (3) how the estate is distributed based on the rules that determine which (if either) marriage was valid. None of those rules apply to civil unions.

Half the cases in any trust and estate casebook are cases that individual families paid to litigate to sort out rights arising out of marriages, the termination of marriages, the presumptions related to children born in or out of marriage, etc. Creating a separate legal status of civil unions places the burden for the litigation that will be required with respect to civil unions on the individual families who will be forced to go to court to reinvent the marriage wheel with respect to civil unions.