Delaware
Hawaii
Illinois
New Jersey
Rhode Island
Civil unions provide gay couples with the legal standing of marriage, and states that allow them extend to same-sex couples the rights, protections, responsibilities, and benefits that the states themselves give to heterosexual married couples. Many gay-rights activists, however, argue the status of civil unions nonetheless causes the public to perceive their commitments to be less than those of married people. Supporters, on the other hand, defend them as the best deal gay couples are likely to get in states resistant to gay marriage.
