A civil union is a legal partnership agreement between two persons. They are typically created for same-sex couples with the purpose of granting them benefits that are found in marriage. Some jurisdictions, however, also allow entry by opposite-sex couples. Unions that are similar to or synonymous with civil unions include civil partnerships, registered partnerships , and domestic partnerships. Some jurisdictions, such as the United Kingdom, have unions that are identical to marriage in nearly every way except name, while some only allow minimal reciprocal benefits. The differences between same-sex marriage and civil-unions can be inconsistent. For example; Belgium's laws allow same-sex marriage, but not adoption (until 2004: now adoption is in Belgium allowed), while Sweden's or Great Britain´s laws allow civil-unions nearly equal to marriage but also allow adoptions of children, even children other than those of one of the partners. Other countries, such as Norway allow nearly all the same rights as marriage but not adoption of unrelated children. There is currently a debate in Sweden to change partnerships into marriage. Many people are critical of unions because they say it creates a separate status that's unequal to marriage. Others are critical because they say it's introducing same-sex marriage by using a different name
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U.S. stats on where legal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:SSM_NorthAm_2006.PNG
Last edited by Colfax (2006-07-14 07:52:23)
