Why not civil union?
• All states grant marriage licenses through which couples receive legal rights, benefits and responsibilities under both state and federal law. Civil/legal marriage is the only way a couple’s relationship may gain legal standing under both state and federal law. • Under the full faith and credit clause of the US Constitution, marriages performed in one state are to be recognized and respected in every other state in the union, and through international comity laws, in every country throughout the world. • Civil union is not recognized by federal law and does not, would not offer any of the more than 1,100 legal rights, benefits and responsibilities recorded in federal law. • Civil union exists only in the state of Vermont and is not recognized across the state lines of Vermont. In other words, it has no validity in any other state. • Civil unions do not provide the same legal rights, benefits and responsibilities as marriage. Any couple who chooses to have a civil union and remain in
