Great start. I’ve long advocated to get the State OUT of the marriage (as in holy matrimony) business.
The Civil Unions should be treated by the State as a contracts.
Exactly. There's no reason a sexual or marital relationship should be acknowledged or implied by the state when two people choose to take legal responsibility for each other.
Best example I heard of this was years ago when two female war widows wanted to be responsible for each other and their children if something should happen to the other. A civil union would be a way of insuring that the children wouldn't be moved around if something happened to one of them.
If gays want to be "married", let them find a willing church. Years ago, when this started, I have a relative who was one of the first "married" to his partner in VT. At that time, the town issued a Civil Union that was separate from the Church wedding (two guys in tuxes). The restaurant that provided the dinner....it was a real nice dinner but not particularly identifiable as a wedding party.
Why couldn't the gay crowd be satisfied with that?
You are trying to slap a patch on the surface of the problem without addressing the underlying problem.