Man-Woman Couples Opting Into Civil Unions

Here's an interesting article about some of Illinois' man-woman couples who are opting for civil unions, rather than marriage. A snippet:

"Many of the other straight civil union pioneers have also said no to marriage—for themselves and as an institution. The evidence is in a report that the Cook County Clerk’s Office recently issued on the nation’s first opposite-sex [sic] couples who civilly united. It found dissatisfaction with the institution of marriage because of concerns with its historical assignment of roles, its connection to religion, and its unfairness to gay and lesbian couples. My own interviews with some of these same couples, who have rejected marriage and plunged into the shallower, murkier pool of the civil union, reflect a cohort prepared to take the wrecking ball to marriage itself."

First, can we just stop calling the sexes "opposites" already? Kthx.

Secondly, if more of the Normal People begin obtaining civil unions with all of the rights of marriage, would the second-class status of civil unions go away? Doesn't the fact that civil unions are open to man-woman couples and same-sex couples in Illinois illustrate that the absurd "it's not marriage, but we treat it just like marriage" legal scheme makes a sketchy distinction between couples who have no relevant differences from each other?