An editorial in the Balitmore Sun has repeated the myth that civil unions are inferior to same-sex marriages because only the former are denied interstate or federal recognition.

The editorial supported same-sex marriage but also endorsed the more immediate enactment of a civil union law in Maryland.

In conceding that same-sex marriage would be superior to civil unions, the editorial board offered the following:

[Same-sex marriage advocates] see [a civil union proposal] as an effort to thwart the case for genuine equality.

After all, civil union protections generally end at a state’s borders. Nor would they have any impact on matters governed by the federal government - as often is the case with health insurance benefits, for instance. Marriage would be better.

As this editorial demonstrates, advocates for same-sex marriage have done an excellent job of marketing the largely erroneous idea that same-sex marriages will receive interjursidctional and federal recognition while civil unions will not.

I have criticized this view previously.