Quote: Why shove a square peg in a round hole? It IS different, so why not call it that? I don't think there's a ton of overt discrimination against couples of any persuasion (man/man, woman/woman, man/woman) that are simply living together, so I don't see a cultural backlash against those that would be "unioned" or whatever moniker one would wish to use.
I don't necessarily disagree with your JaTo -- it is "different" than what has been the culturally accepted 'norm'.
But I know people, and people, for some reason, take offense at being 'different'.
If people can find the statement: "My black friend Justin is cool" offensive. I know they would find the differentiation of "My unioned friends Steve and Joe" offensive. So people will refrain from saying it. They'll stick with whatever moniker works in the group that they're in. So, at say a Republican Party Convention (to use a vast generalization) they'll use the term "Unioned". But in general public or on the evening News, most people are going to use the most "politically correct" term -- and that would be to somehow avoid the terms 'marriage' or 'unioned' entirely, or to just go with the word that avoids potentially hurting someone's feelings.
So, call it whatever you want, it'll still be called a "marriage" by 95% of the people 95% of the time.
But, hey, maybe if you use the word and make it seem like such a bad thing, then the homosexuals will pick it up and begin using it themselves much like another minority group and a certain derogatory expletive.
