Accidents of history

Wei Hong commented on ST’s link:

American Thinker The Soul-Crushing Scorched-Earth Battle for Gay Marriage 11 August 2012 “Most importantly, had civil unions been the focus, there would have been nowhere near as much resistance.”

A semantic imbroglio exists here. Homosexual "marriage" and "civil union" potentially denote the same concept, as is the case in some countries. However, in federations such as the USA (alas, the current dialectic epicentre) and Australia, "civil unions" tend to be recognised at the state level, while "marriage" is recognised at the federal level. Thus, along divisions between state and federal power, arguably contrived distinctions arise via accidents of history.