No I haven't. I doubt my gay friends would get married anytime soon! They are quite enjoying the single life...I really do support gay marriages. If I were gay, I'd want to be married just like the straight couples (minus churches since it's not my thing). But I'm also realistic. I have great insurance and I want my partner to be able to have my benefits. I want us to be able to adopt. I want us to be recognized as a married couple. I want to be able to visit my partner in the hospital during "family only" times. Weddings or the word that describes what we have (marriage or whatever) would not be my number 1 priority. To me, the legal aspect is more important. I don't give a jack squat if people socially accept my marriage/civil union or not, as long I have my rights.
But that's the whole point, civil unions don't give you those rights. And even in states where they come close (at the state level, at least), there is a certain level of understanding that is conferred to a marriage and not a civil union. If your partner were in the hospital, and you walked in and said "We're married." You would automatically be allowed in and given power of attorney, no questions asked. Even couples with civil unions aren't given those rights because the hospital staff doesn't know what to do with them (see my posts about how civil unions were invented about 8-9 years ago). First of all, it's not taken as a given. You will legally be kept out of the room unless you carry your paperwork around with you. Have you ever seen someone say they were married and then have to present their marriage certificate? A civil union will get you nowhere unless you actually carry it around as proof. Same with power of attorney.
I read an article for a presentation I gave last year about a woman whose partner died in the hospital after being trapped in their house while it flooded. All of their paperwork was destroyed in the flood, and she spent hours being denied entry to the room until she could finally contact her partner's family and have them grant her access. The hospital staff wouldn't let her in because, legally, they had no proof that she should have been allowed. And in this situation, her partner's family accepted her and their relationship. That's not always the case.
In a more ideal world, sure, maybe civil unions and marriages could be the same (even though they would still be separating an entire group of people for no reason). But even if on paper you made everything equal, the way that society perceives them won't be.
