Opponents of the civil union bill are merely gay-bashers in disguise, says GayWatch's Clare Gummer in this morning's Herald. "Deriding gays and lesbians is what this opposition to civil union comes down to. For while many of the beneficiaries of the Civil Union Bill will be heterosexual couples, what really frightens the bill's opponents (the United Future Party, the Maxim Institute, Catholic bishops and inveterate letter-writers) is the possibility that gay and lesbian couples may be accepted and welcomed as fully functioning and contributing members of society,” she says. "The argument that marriage may be undermined by civil union is simply a smokescreen for this truth." Gummer argues that marriage is undermined by its own monopoly, and the introduction of civil unions as an alternative choice leave marriage intact and may even strengthen it.