Good As You

Perhaps I should do the research, and haven't because of other preoccupations, but is there any evidence to suggest that civil-unions in the UK have fallen short in terms of protecting and same-sex unions? I understand, and accept that the cultures in the UK and the US are somewhat different. And, that the US version of apartheid was anything but equal, just as it was in South Africa, and while I am not really up on UK history post 1776, I would expect that they had similar disparities.

But, I guess my question is, "Are same-sex couples in the UK content with civil-unions?" And, then the obvious broader question is, "Would civil unions - with the absolute legal equivalence to marriage - work(??) in the US?" Last night, Savage suggested that he might support civil unions as an option... Or would the notion of driving a Lotus where the logo was scraped off, and replaced with a Yugo emblem by and of itself degrade the value to the point of being untenable?