Denmark pioneered civil unions in 1989 before marriage equality spread
Civil unions legally recognize couples—often same-sex—with some or all marital rights, adoption frequently excepted. Denmark led in 1989; many developed nations followed with partnerships under varied names. Critics call them separate-but-equal; supporters of marriage equality want the same institution, not a parallel track.
Names vary widely: civil partnership, registered partnership, domestic partnership, significant relationship and reciprocal beneficiary relationship all describe similar arrangements. Many countries accept foreign unions that match their own, and Britain's Civil Partnership Act 2004 lists them in Schedule 20; where only unions exist, same-sex marriages contracted abroad may be treated as unions. In the United States, domestic partnerships offered by cities, counties and employers from 1985 usually meant fewer benefits, though California, Oregon and Washington used that label for laws close to East Coast civil unions.
Brazil created unions for opposite-sex couples in 2002 and extended them to same-sex couples in 2011, when a 10–0 Supreme Court vote, with one abstention, recognised same-sex stable cohabitation nationwide. In most countries that adopted same-sex unions, marriage has since supplemented or replaced them. Denmark's registered partnership ran from 1989 to 2012, Norway's from 1993 to 2008, Sweden's from 1995 to 2009, Germany's from 2001 to 2017 and Ireland's from 2010 to 2015, each ending once same-sex marriage arrived.
Supporters say unions give practical equality, settling matters like hospital visits and property transfer while sidestepping religious arguments over the word marriage. Critics answer that a separate institution invites inferior treatment. Former New Zealand MP Marilyn Waring made that case, a New Jersey commission found the state's law encouraged unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children, and Evan Wolfson of Freedom to Marry and former US Solicitor General Theodore Olson argued that withholding the word itself stigmatises gay relationships.
Source: Civil union
