This ad from Think Equal, a project of Blue Jersey, is some hot shit.
Pam points us in the direction of this story, highlighting why it's so important to recognize the real world differences of civil unions and marriages:
Civil unions may look like marriage on paper to some, but we already know that these kinds of awkward legal constructs have failed in New Jersey.Consider Paula Long and Rosalind Heggs of Camden who have been together over 15 years. They were registered as domestic partners and also had a civil union from Vermont. Under New Jersey law, they have hospital visitation rights and the right to make decisions on behalf of each other when the other is sick. That’s what’s on paper, but when Rosalind had a heart attack and needed a blood transfusion, the hospital refused to allow Paula to give consent. Paula even had a highlighted copy of the relevant law with her, but that didn’t matter to the hospital. They demanded to see their marriage certificate. (see video of their story)
Think Equal has other ads, make sure to check them out.
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Thank you for linking that story- I get so frustrated when I hear people argue that "civil unions are the same as marriage" or that someone arguing for same-sex marriage should be "happy" with civil unions, and that pushing for *actual* marriages is just arguing over words.
If you have to have a seperate label for it, it's *not* the same, and if it's "just" an argument of words, then call it what it is- a marriage. Now I've got a concrete example to point to.
What really gets me is that some people think marriage should be strictly religious and that civil unions are a good option as the equivalent of marriage, but without the priest/minister. But that's not true at all, as this and the other videos on the website demonstrate. Plus, according to those in favor of keeping marriage as a religious institution only, atheists shouldn't marry either. (Well, hell, they'll probably admit to that!)
Thanks so much for posting this and the other video! It makes me so sad how some people so fervently deny equality to others. The New Jersey video is absolutely heartbreaking.
Actually, I have no problem with "marriage" bein strictly religious and everyone being limited to civil unions, as long as LEGALLY speaking we treat all civil unions the same, regardless of whether there's a church-sanctioned "marriage" in the mix or not.
This would mean that, legally speaking, there would be no such thing as marriage. And, frankly, in modern society, that makes the most sense to me.
On a happy note, in Canada, same-sex marriage is safe for a while at least: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061207.wsamesex07/BNStory/National/home
Is this supposed to be so strikingly similar to those Mac / PC commercials that are aired on television lately?
I definantly agree that if it's just a battle of words, and words really don't matter or make much of a difference, why fight it? Marriage is marriage and if you really want gay marriage and hetero marriage to be "equal" then they need to really be equal, and that includes the title.
kate, absolutely... law fairy, absolutely...
i mean, really, there should be no such things a legal marriage... any more than there should be a legal definition of communion. also, as there are no legal benefits derived from having a bar mitzvah, there should be none from getting married.
legal benefits (in terms of taxes, visitation, inheritance, etc.) should be solely bestowed by a civil union license, which should not, under any circumstances, be beholden to religious doctrine.
marriage should bestow no legal privileges, only religious ones.
we live in a country governed by civil and criminal law, not religious law, so there should not be any religious laws.
the government should not interfere in an anglican priest's desire to be bigoted against homosexuals, nor an episcopal priest's desire to treat lgbt folks as human beings, as far as their priestly duties are concerned.
peace and blessings
I'm totally 100% for gay marriage but I don't think it will stop situations like the above. If people want to discriminate a word like marriage won't stop them.
I can't belive a law in the UK that prevents discrimination on the grounds of homosexuality in provision of goods and services is having so little backing in the uk....
http://www.thefword.org.uk/blog/2006/december#000552