Yes, it's civil unions, which basically every conservative in the US supported

IIRC civil unions were a scheme by the mainstream left to shoehorn the idea of gay marriage into the system before taking the mask off was feasible. 20 years ago only AOC's ideological predecessors were openly favoring it. Mainstream Democrats (the ones who had to compete nationally without the benefit of 2020s style "fortification") used civil unions as an incremental approach. When it became a wedge issue in 2004 Kerry backed civil unions and Bush didn't. Bathhouse Barry waited until 2012 to take the mask off, which totally wasn't an attempt to normalize his degenerate relationship with Big Mike /s