"Gay Unions: Moderation Is Winning" Ellen Goodman

[Bertha Venation]

"Gay Unions: Moderaton Is Winning" by Ellen Goodman
washingtonpost.com, Saturday, February 14, 2004

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Was it just a decade ago when domestic partnerships were considered so radical they were restricted to a few liberal hamlets? In 2000, when the Vermont Legislature approved civil unions, people in the Green Mountain State predicted the sky would fall, the milk would curdle and the maple sap would stop running.

Now civil union has become the moderate position. The argument over the rights of gay partners to marital benefits is nearly ceded. The debate is now about names.

In the State House, civil union was the alternative favored by legislators who fit no one's definition of a "Massachusetts liberal." In Washington, even Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), the lead sponsor of the federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, has said the amendment leaves room for civil unions.

Remember when gay activists were told that this "extremism" would produce a backlash? Instead, it's produced astonishing momentum. Marriage in everything but name has become a new norm.

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