Don George wants to work towards civil unions laws and marriage equality:
If we pursue marriage as the sole vehicle to achieve the 1100+ federal rights and benefits for our relationships (the ones that come with opposite sex marriage), we will effectively be throwing gay couples who live in the 30 states with constitutional amendments prohibiting same sex marriage overboard. When everyone else gets marriage benefits, gay people who live in these 30 states will be left behind and get absolutely nothing. They will also have no hope of getting these benefits or protections for their relationships for a very, very long time.
I was unaware this was an either-or situation. And, in fact, the fight for marriage rights has made civil unions the moderate fall-back position. They have far more standing because of the fight for marriage equality than they had before. But a word of warning on those states that have jumped onto the ban marriage equality bandwagon. The forces against marriage equality are also adamantly against civil unions for gay people. And they have no intention of allowing gay couples any civil recognition, because we are an emblem of sin to them.