CONCORD, N.H., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- New Hampshire on Tuesday becomes the latest state in the union to offer civil unions to same-sex couples.
More than 100 same-sex couple have registered for unification, The Boston Globe reported Monday.
"The biggest issue is that it's just not an issue," said Andrew E. Smith with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
Smith said New Hampshire's secular tendencies and low minority population contribute to the lack of opposition to same-sex couples.
New Hampshire becomes the second state to offer civil unions without a court order but other New England states were more progressive: Vermont offered civil unions in 2000 and Connecticut did so in 2005.
New Hampshire State Rep. Edward Butler, D-Hart's Location, himself in a civil union, said civil unions present mixed perceptions.
"It's not marriage. Even more important to us than the word is the reality of equality. It's still a significant distance from that," he told the Globe.
Civil unions extend some rights given to heterosexual couples, such as property rights, wills and hospital visitations restricted to immediate family.
