He has made clear that his support for the right of every American to decide who he or she loves and the right to marriage is a matter of civil marriage, and that religious institutions -- churches and -- have their own sacraments and decide what they are.
"Currently, if a person discloses that they are in a civil partnership rather than a marriage, they automatically disclose their sexual orientation, " the government says.
"As the demand for same-sex marriage is uncertain, and because these economic benefits are not guaranteed to be additional (for example, the spending on a civil partnership or marriage ceremony may not be additional if the couple and guests cut back on spending in other areas), we use zero benefit as our best estimate, " it explains.
The civil marriage in France is compulsory, and so if there is a change in the civil code on marriage, it affects everybody.
"I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage, " Baldacci, a Democrat, said in a statement released as he signed the bill.
Registrars are encouraged to report their suspicions of a suspect marriage or civil partnership under Section 24 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
It emerged this week that the CES wrote to nearly 400 state-funded Roman Catholic schools inviting them to back a petition against gay civil marriage.
The bill would also allow same-sex couples to convert a civil partnership to a marriage and enable married transsexual people to gain legal recognition in their acquired gender without having to end their marriage.
He has suggested replacing register office marriages and civil partnerships with a new form of civil union to "strengthen the concept that marriage is a union between one man and one woman, to leave that to faith to implement".
Some Muslim Britons contract an Islamic marriage (but not a civil one) and then fail to confer on the bride the marriage settlement that would be obligatory in say, Pakistan.
And in Colorado a measure to legalise civil unions in a state that made gay marriage illegal in 2006 was prevented from coming to a vote in the state legislature.
Government deals with marriage as a civil status however fundamental and New York has elected to extend that status to same-sex couples.
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If civil unions would be equal to marriage, you would have to ask if Vermonters would trade their marriage for a civil union.
The legislation will give those who fear being married against their will the right to apply to a civil court for a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO).
What he did took a great deal of courage, especially considering that a recent Gallup poll showed 48% of Americans are against same-sex marriages and that North Carolina, a swing state he barely won four years ago, just voted against marriage equality and civil unions, with a vote of 61% to 39%.
He dismisses the idea that gay couples could be granted rights equal to marriage under the rubric of something other than marriage, such as a civil union.
And there was no mention of legalising gay marriage, which will please some Conservative backbenchers who have criticised it as a distraction from fixing the economy, but the Home Office said it remained committed to introducing same-sex civil marriage "by the end of this Parliament" and a consultation was "still ongoing".
Anne Stanback, a gay marriage advocate, says interest in civil unions has been weak in Connecticut.
At the state level, meanwhile, the cause of both gay marriage and civil unions had a bad week.
Advocates had expected that Colorado would become the first state that has banned gay marriage to pass a bill allowing civil unions, which grant certain legal rights to same-sex couples.
Obama's declaration of his support for marriage equality the day after North Carolina residents banned both same-sex marriage and civil unions in a referendum is only the latest encapsulation of the dialectical interaction of movement and countermovement: Each effort to limit marriage equality has led to a countereffort on behalf of equal rights.
The bill is set to specifically exclude the Church of England and Church in Wales to avoid a clash between Canon Law - which defines marriage as that between a man and a woman - and UK civil law.
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The couple were married in a 2008 civil ceremony in San Francisco, during a short window when California recognized same-sex marriage.
And he talks about this in a -- not about religious sacraments, but civil marriage.
Barack Obama ran for president in 2008 as a supporter of civil unions but not same-sex marriage.
It will also allow couples who have previously entered into civil partnerships to convert their relationship into a marriage.
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone will launch a consultation later this month on how to make civil marriage available to same-sex couples.
The importance of marriage for society's general health and stability also explains why the commonly mooted alternative to gay marriage a so-called civil union is not enough.
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