Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru

In Canada, same-sex marriage is a possibility. You need to find a clergyman or -woman who will do the service, but it is completely legal and recognized. Canada isn't the only nation who does this, but it is a good case where a society has finally recognized gays and lesbians as people who are entitled to the same social structure of marriage and family. It is the legitimizing homosexual relationships as valid social bonds that are perfectly capable of building families. After all, gays and lesbians are people too, right?

Originally Posted by Rekna

In a perfect world we would have marriages and civil unions. A marriage implies a civil union but a civil union does not imply a marriage. Marriage would have no legal status only a religious status.