Though it will probably be called Vermont’s gay marriage law, the bill creating civil unions supported last week by that state’s House of Representatives mentions marriage only to point out that this isn’t it. Instead, it is, first and last, a legal, rather than religious, document that provides the same legal opportunities — and nothing more — to same-sex couples that married couples currently have. It contains all the romance of a court order.

Naturally the law has been protested as an assault on the sanctity of marriage, but it was set in motion — and will likely be supported by the state senate this spring — after a ruling last December by the Vermont Supreme Court. The court based its decision on a state constitutional clause, which reads, in part, That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community, and not for the particular emolument or advantage of any single person, family, or set of persons, who are only part of that community. …”

With the ruling, the question for Vermont was how its legislature would shape a law providing these common rights. It began with the court’s observation that Vermont’s marriage statutes and general understanding describe a civil marriage of consisting of a union between a man and a woman. Lawmakers proposed a parallel civil union to provide for the same privileges, responsibilities and benefits without challenging the deep and widely held beliefs about marriage.

The list of legal benefits that the unions would provide are considerable and are a useful reminder of the way the law can act to protect the integrity of families. Some of the state and federal protections include the following: automatic inheritance, insurance benefits, bereavement leave, child custody, sick leave to care for a partner, divorce protections, burial determination, authority to make medical decisions and wrongful death benefits. These are commonplace protections, ones that many couples simply assume they have.

Same-sex couples, however, largely do not. After so much heated debate nationally about what constitutes special rights for one group or another, the Vermont legislation is a measured attempt to provide equal treatment under the law for everyone.