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A civil union is one of several terms for a civil status similar to marriage, typically created for the purposes of allowing homosexual couples access to the benefits enjoyed by married heterosexuals (see also same-sex marriage); it can also be used by couples of differing sexes who do not prefer to enter into the legal institution of marriage (perhaps out of solidarity with those who fight for equality) but who would rather be in a union more similar to a common-law marriage.
Many different types of civil unions exist. Some are identical to marriage in nearly every respect except name; some have many but not all of the rights accorded to married couples; some are simple registries (also called domestic partnerships.)
Some jurisdictions that have passed civil unions include Vermont in the United States ( 2000); Quebec and Nova Scotia in Canada; and France, Denmark ( 1989), NorwayThe Kingdom of Norway is a Nordic country west of Sweden on the Scandinavian Peninsula. It has a very elongated form and has an extensive coastline along the North Atlantic Ocean, where Norway's famous fjords are found. In addition to Sweden, it borders R ( 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic.), SwedenThe Kingdom of Sweden Konungariket Sverige in Swedish) is a Nordic country in Scandinavia, in Northern Europe. It is bordered by Norway on the west, Finland on the northeast, the Skagerrak and the Kattegat on the southwest, and the Baltic Sea and the Gulf ( 19941994 is a common year starting on Saturday, and was designated the International year of the Family''. Events January events January 1 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) goes into effect January 6 Nancy Kerrigan is clubbed on the right leg by an), IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is an island nation in the northern Atlantic Ocean, located between Greenland and Scotland, northwest of the Faroe Islands. Lydveldid Island ( In Detail) (Full size) National motto: none Official languageNone. Icelandic de facto''. ( 19961996 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty''. Events January January 5 Hamas operative Yahya Ayyash is killed by an Israeli-planted booby-trapped cell phone Jan), FinlandSuomen TasavaltaRepubliken Finland ( In Detail) ( In Detail) National motto: None Official languages Finnish and Swedish Capital Helsinki President Tarja Halonen Prime minister Matti Vanhanen Area Total % water Ranked 64th 337,030 km² 9. 4% Population Tot ( 2000), GermanyThe Federal Republic of Germany ( German: Bundesrepublik Deutschland is one of the world's leading industrialized countries, located in the middle of the European Union. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark and the Baltic Sea, to the east ( 2001), the Swiss canton of Zürich ( 2002), the Argentinean city of Buenos Aires ( 2003), and the Australian state of Tasmania ( 2004).
In 2001, the Netherlands gave same-sex marriage equal status with opposite-sex marriage, in addition to its 1998 "registered partnership" law (civil union) for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples. Belgium did likewise in 2003, as did the provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec, Canada, following court rulings in 2003 and 2004. A bill has been drafted to extend that right throughout Canada. Gay marriage is also legal in the US state of Massachusetts. See same-sex marriage.
A much larger number of jurisdictions, largely individual municipalities and counties, have passed rules to register same-sex unions; for information on this, see domestic partnership.
In July 2004, the American state of New Jersey enacted a law that is virtually the same as a typical civil union, giving same-sex couples most of the rights associated with marriage. Although the state government uses the term domestic partnership to denote these new unions, the law in fact gives many more rights than those given by the domestic partnerships of most other juristictions and so the New Jersey situation is more often related to civil unions. In November 2004 the United Kingdom passed a similar law using the terminology civil partnership.
