Civil unions for all

Christian Century, March 23, 2004

CIVIL UNIONS FOR ALL: One way to finesse the gay marriage debate would be for the state to get out of the business of defining marriage--leave that to churches, mosques and synagogues--and give civil unions to everyone, straight and gay. This is not that radically different from what we do now, according to Alisa Solomon, because the license comes from one institution and, in most cases, the blessing from another.

Solomon points out that her rabbi won't perform interfaith marriages, which is his religious prerogative, but that is not the law of the land. Alluding to the movement for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages, she quotes Rabbi Arthur Waskow: "God forbid--and I do mean God forbid!--that as a country we dig ourselves into a pit where Orthodox Jews and Southern Baptists are affirmed by the Constitution while Reform Jews and Episcopalians are ghettoized" (Village Voice, March 3-9).