{"id":1187,"date":"2023-04-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current_affairs\/uncategorized\/19-04-2023\/civil-union-versus-marriage\/"},"modified":"2023-04-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T00:00:00","slug":"civil-union-versus-marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/19-04-2023\/civil-union-versus-marriage","title":{"rendered":"Civil Union versus Marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>In News<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">CJI clarified that the hearing\u2019s scope would be limited to developing a notion of <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>a \u201ccivil union\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> that finds legal recognition under <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>the Special Marriage Act<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>What is Civil Union?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">A<\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong> civil union (also known as a civil partnership)<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Civil unions would be accompanied by rights such as inheritance rights, property rights, parental rights, employment benefits to spouses, joint parenting right to abstain from testifying against one\u2019s partner \u2014 similar to the spousal privilege given under Section 122 of the Indian Evidence Act.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>Differences between the Civil Union and Marriage<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Civil partners cannot call themselves &#8216;married&#8217; for legal purposes and Married couples cannot call themselves &#8216;civil partners&#8217; for legal purposes.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Civil partnerships are ended by a dissolution order. Marriage is ended by divorce, by obtaining a final order.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Civil union is considered a step towards formal recognition of legal right to marry.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">In the wake of the legalization of same sex marriages, several civil unions were converted into marriages. For instance, In Austria, same-sex couples could form civil partnerships between the years 2010-2017. However, this changed with a court ruling that deemed civil unions discriminatory in January 2019, when such marriages were legalized.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-left:24px\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>Which other countries allow civil unions?<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">In the year 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) legalized same-sex marriages across the nation with its landmark ruling in \u201cObergefell v. Hodges\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">From 1993, couples in Norway enjoyed the right to enter into civil unions, which gave way to a new law 15 years later, allowing such couples to marry, adopt and undergo state-sponsored artificial insemination.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Similarly, countries like Brazil, Uruguay, Andorra, and Chile had also recognized the right of same sex couples to enter into civil unions, even before they formally recognized their legal right to marriage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"margin-left:24px\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>For further reading on Same-sex marriage, kindly follow this link <\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current-affairs\/26-11-2022\/same-sex-marriage\" style=\"text-decoration:none\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#0563c1\"><u>https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current-affairs\/26-11-2022\/same-sex-marriage<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"border-collapse:collapse; border:none; width:601px\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"background-color:#fff2cc; border-bottom:1px solid #000000; border-left:1px solid #000000; border-right:1px solid #000000; border-top:1px solid #000000; vertical-align:top; width:601px\">\n<p style=\"margin-left:24px\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong><u>Special Marriage Act of 1954<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>About:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">All marriages in India can be registered under the respective personal law Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Muslim Marriage Act, 1954, <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>or<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India with provision for civil marriage for people of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrespective of religion or faith followed by either party.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">The couples have to serve a notice with the relevant documents to the Marriage Officer 30 days before the intended date of the marriage.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Applicability:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Any person, irrespective of religion.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, or Jews can also perform marriage under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">Inter-religion marriages are performed under this Act.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:circle\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">This Act is applicable to the entire territory of India and extends to intending spouses who are both Indian nationals living abroad.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"list-style-type:disc\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">For further reading on <\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Special Marriage Act of 1954,<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"> kindly follow this link <\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current-affairs\/31-08-2022\/challenging-the-special-marriage-act-1954\" style=\"text-decoration:none\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#0563c1\"><u>https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/current-affairs\/31-08-2022\/challenging-the-special-marriage-act-1954<\/u><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Arial\"><span style=\"color:#000000\"><strong>Source: IE<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In News CJI clarified that the hearing\u2019s scope would be limited to developing a notion of a \u201ccivil union\u201d that finds legal recognition under the Special Marriage Act. What is Civil Union? A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-1187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","tag-gs1"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wp-images.nextias.com\/cdn-cgi\/image\/format=auto\/ca\/uploads\/2023\/07\/5984230Screenshot_6.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}