Question: What's the Difference Between Domestic Partnership and Civil Union?
Answer: In name, a civil union and domestic partnership are the same thing. But what rights come with each vary state by state. For example, California has a very comprehensive domestic partnership laws that grants gay and lesbian couples almost all of the same rights as marriage. But Washington has a domestic partnership law that gives gay couples only a handful of the hundreds of rights heterosexual married couples are given.
But remember, whether a domestic partnership or civil union, unlike marriage, the rights and benefits are only valid within that state.
