The Civil Union Bill which passed its first reading this afternoon falls far short of what we should be expecting from a country that used to be a world leader on human rights, says a gay offshoot of the Alliance party. "Retaining marriage as a legal option reserved exclusively for heterosexual couples simply isn't good enough," said PrideAlliance spokesperson Kelly Buchanan. "If marriage is a sacred institution which the state has no right to redefine, then it should not be a legal institution. Either open marriage to everyone, or remove its legal status and let churches decide for themselves whom they will allow to marry, and which marriages they will recognise as valid." Buchanan says Civil Unions will not even be a genuine alternative to marriage. "It's marriage with the serial numbers filed off, not the flexible relationship register we'd have liked to see. It would work as a replacement for marriage, but is quite superfluous as a parallel institution." PrideAlliance says opposition to the bill consists mostly of “horrified ranting about how recognition of same sex relationships will destroy the institution of marriage and cause the collapse of decent society. What difference the legal status of other people's relationships make to their own is not clearly explained,” the group says.