[goodnesswins]

gay folks can already do what's needed to do to make each other beneficiaries, medical contact/decision maker, etc....in other words.....if they make the effort they can do everything a civil union does, unless I'm mistaken.

[newzjunkey]

It can't be done that way in all states. Some will defer to biological relatives instead of persons you appoint, for example. It's especially problematic if biological relatives object.

This is why 'civil unions' make sense if folks insist on keeping the term "marriage" in the gov't lexicon.