Defining Civil Unions

A civil union is a legal bond between two individuals that provides them with legal protection at a state level. This arrangement, similar to marriage, was primarily established to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples.

• The central government questioned both the maintainability of the petitions and whether it was within the Judiciary's right to give legal recognition to the institution of marriage, which they described as a "socio-legal institution".
• The Chief Justice of India clarified that the hearing's focus would be on defining a legal concept of a "civil union" under the Special Marriage Act.
• Civil unions give similar rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples as those given to heterosexual couples under marriage laws.
• Even though civil unions offer similar rights relating to employment, inheritance, property, and parental rights, there are certain distinctions between civil unions and marriages.

Discover more about same-sex marriages in India in the linked article.

Differences between Civil Unions and Marriages

• In 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) made a historic decision to legalize same-sex marriages.
• Prior to this decision, most US states only recognized same-sex relationships under civil union laws, without formally recognizing them as marriages.
• Civil unions came with a set of rights, which included:

• • Inheritance rights
  • Spousal employment benefits
  • Shared parenting or ownership rights
  • The right to refuse to testify against one's partner, akin to the spousal privilege under Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act, which protects the confidentiality of communications between spouses.

• The key difference between a civil union and a marriage in the US is that civil unions are not recognized by federal law and are only recognized by individual states.
• This state-by-state recognition led to inconsistencies, as not all states recognized civil unions due to the US system of state-determined marriage laws.
• Before the US, other countries that recognized same-sex unions include Sweden, Norway, Austria, Brazil, Uruguay, Andorra, and Chile, all of which eventually legalized same-sex marriages.