America's first civil-union couple are parting ways. The lesbian couple who entered into the nation's first same-sex civil union are splitting up amid allegations of violent behavior. Carolyn Conrad, who is 35, asked a court in October to end her relationship with Kathleen Peterson, who is 46. Conrad also obtained a restraining order Wednesday against Peterson, saying Peterson punched a hole in the wall during an argument and threatened to harm a friend. Here is the story:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/12/15/D8EGT8A80.html

The article goes on to say:

The two had been together for five years when they were legally joined in Brattleboro minutes after Vermont's civil-union law took effect on July 1, 2000. Two years ago, the couple were offering relationship advice on the gay-rights Web site.

By the end of 2004, a total of 7,549 same-sex couples had entered civil unions in Vermont, the first state to offer gay couples nearly all the rights and privileges of marriage. There have been 78 dissolutions.

Bari Shamas, a member of the Vermont Freedom to Marry Task Force, said gay relationships are prone to the same difficulties as heterosexual marriages.

"There's no proof that our relationships are any better than heterosexual relationships," Shamas said.

You can say that again! Although the institution of heterosexual marriage is suffering (the average straight marriage is now said to last 8 or 9 years), gay unions tend to have far shorter lifespans (the average gay civil union is said to last one-and-a-half years). Why bother legalizing gay marriage? It seems to me that gays only want to do this to (a) make a point, and (b) receive marriage benefits. But I believe that gay unions and the concept of gay marriage degrade and trivialize the sacred institution of marriage (as does opposite-sex co-habitation), and the consequences of this will be irreparable.