Personally I think civil unions should replace de facto for both gay and heterosexual couples, with de facto only assumed where couples have children but haven’t bothered to register their relationships.

But the issue of equality for same sex couples doesn’t go away until we have marriage rights.

Forcing different groups of people to eat at different restaurants or drink from separate water fountains is still wrong even if it’s the same water or the food is just as good.

The same goes for our social institutions. If we stop at civil unions all we’ll have achieved is marking ourselves out as separate from the rest of human society for the rest of history.

The only state to have existing same sex marriage laws overturned through a ballot initiative is California. This initiative may itself be overturned by the California Supreme Court in the weeks to come and in the meantime, gay and lesbian couples in the state are still protected through domestic partnerships.

Florida and Arizona did not have same sex marriage laws, the bans there were preemptive- like the ban passed by the major parties federally here. These bans can also be reversed through court action or by lawmakers or through another ballot initiative.

Same sex marriage is still legal in Connecticut and Massachusetts and in Rhode Island out of state same sex marriages are recognised, with in-state marriages soon to follow.

Throughout the history of the United States, civil rights battles have been won through the courts and not through popular votes. The recent ballot initiative in California is a glaring exception, not the rule.

“Massachusetts and Connecticut are now the only states allowing same-sex marriage. Vermont and New Hampshire also have civil unions. And California has domestic partnerships that provide many similar rights and privileges.”

Please Andrew, we don’t need any more of these “victories”.

All Australian states and now the Commonwealth recognise same-sex partnerships in a similar manner to de facto, and many states now have partnership registers. We are well ahead of the United States.

(I say roll on civil unions!)

Far from spreading across America, wherever it appears, same-sex marriage is overturned by voters.