Vermont's Dean Would Recognize Civil Unions If President; but not try to push a Civil Union bill though Congress.

It's a sensible position, as the cultural divide continues, there's no reason why VT, NY and OR should not be able to transcend the bigotry of other states. It's a fine needle to thread though, if Dean wants to win any states in the rockies or south.

“As president of the United States, I will recognize civil unions, which will then allow full equality under the law as far as the federal government is concerned,” Dean said in a speech to the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association convention in Philadelphia.

Dean said it was not the federal government’s role to become involved in marriage statutes. He pledged that if elected he would do all he could to undo the Defense of Marriage Act, passed during the Clinton administration, which prohibits the federal government from recognizing marriages between any couples except one man and one woman.

He made a point of emphasizing he was not advocating full marriage rights. Nor was he pressing other states to enact civil union legislation.

“What I am not going to do is tell every state they have to pass civil unions,” he said.