The "marriage vs. civil union" debate pops up in gay cultural regularly. Should we (we being dem gays) fight for marriage, or for civil unions that have all the rights of marriage, but for some reason are more palatable to certain people. I guess it's like how I now support The Patriot Act, but not when it was under its original name, "Underskirt Cam" (Details on www.ashcroftspanties.com.)
A few arguments against focusing on civil unions is that it institutionalizes a "separate but equal" status for gay people and legitimatizes the bigotry that fuels gayer hatas in the first place. Good arguments. And the idea that more Americans, when actually faced with the issue of legal recognition for gay couples, would support marriage in effect as long as it wasn't called marriage sounds specious.
But, nevertheless, this is what I think the gay community should do:
1. We fight for civil unions, or country unions, or The Joining of Al'Kathuzl, with the same legal rights as marriage.
2. We get these rights.
2a. Big party.
3. We say "Gotcha!" and always refer to it as marriage.
3a. And when we talk about straight people getting married, we use air quotes over "married."
Sample script:
STRAIGHT PERSON: "Barry! I haven't seen you in a while. What's new with you?"
GAY PERSON: "Good news. I'm going to get married next month."
STRAIGHT PERSON: "Married? You mean 'civil unioned', right?"
GAY PERSON: "Ha ha ha. Silly breeder."
I think nomenclature is just a straw symbol of the real reason some people are against gay marriage. But if everything is identical except for the name, I'd rather get a civil union certificate and a bottle of Wite-Out rather than wait a few extra years.
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