So much prejudice in the world - enough for me to jump off a bridge.

Although NZ may have its ills, both major parties of NZ have done so much for their constituents in terms of social equality, particularly in the field of gay rights. Former PM Helen Clark saw no problem with gay marriage and even though John Key voted against the civil union bill (he was then an unknown MP who was only representing a conservative electorate) he later redeemed himself by voting against the reclassifying of marriage as being between a man and a woman and later stating his support for gay adoption.

The same can't be said for Australia.
On Saturday, PM Kevin Rudd and his Labor cronies affirmed their opposition to gay marriage or any form of union "that mimics marriage"(including civil unions). It is disappointing to hear that a person who was "committed to remove any barriers to gay discrimination" practically contradicts himself in the first place. Then I went to the Yahoo message boards, and sure enough, conservative nutjobs were celebrating their victory posting hate-filled messages against gays. I tried fighting back, but my posts would've also came off as being vitriolic and hate-filled. Traditionally, I haven't been a fan of parties that have references to Labour in their names, and this latest decision is just another nail in the coffin closer towards me casting my first ever vote against him.

Admittedly, the Liberal Party isn't much better, although embattled Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull announced that the Coalition isn't in favour of same-sex marriage, he is in favour of an end to discrimination in terms of legal and tax equality. Does that mean he's in favour of civil unions? Time will tell if he shares the views of his predecessors...

So what exactly is a civil union.
From Wikipedia:
A civil union is a legally recognized union similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples with rights, benefits, and responsibilities similar (in some countries, identical) to opposite-sex civil marriage. In some jurisdictions, such as Quebec, New Zealand, and Uruguay, civil unions are also open to opposite-sex couples.

Most civil-union countries recognize foreign unions if those are essentially equivalent to their own; for example, the United Kingdom lists equivalent unions in Civil Partnership Act Schedule 20.

Some commentators, such as Ian Ayres, are critical of civil unions because they say they represent separate status unequal to marriage ("marriage apartheid").Others, such as Sean Kosofsky, are critical because they say civil unions are separate but equal — because they allow same-sex marriage by using a different name.

My view on civil unions is that of an "it's a start" nature. It is unequal but it does give a gay partnership a vast majority of their legal and financial rights. Good news, but not quite great.