> If they are the same, why not give them the same name? Labelling them as being different will not encourage them to be treated the same. Names and labels have great emotive power, and insisting on the term "civil union" for something you freely admit to being identical to "marriage" can only make people think of those so labelled as of less value.

That's kind of the point. I support the right of gays or whomever to marry, by which I mean bind themselves to a contract and call it marriage. I would prefer the state had nothing to do with any marriage at all, but state recognition of gay marriage is a tolerable compromise. It's perfectly fine with me if other people want to embrace the redefinition of marriage. But I'm not going to treat their arrangements as of equal value to a real marriage.