MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Lois Farnham and Holly Puterbaugh were among the very first same-sex couples in the nation to be legally joined as spouses when Vermont’s civil union law went into effect.

They’re happy to be celebrating their fifth anniversary – but they still wish they could get married.

As gay and lesbian couples in Massachusetts have won full marriage rights, and several communities have recognized same-sex marriages, even fleetingly, the civil union certificate that Farnham and Puterbaugh got on July 1, 2000, seems a little like second best.

A major complaint about civil union is that it is recognized in only one other state: Connecticut. A law establishing civil unions takes effect there in October.

“I think people have accepted civil unions, without any question,” Farnham said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a compromise. I would still like full marriage benefits, but it’s better than what we had.”

In the first five years of Vermont’s law, 7,549 couples have joined in civil unions, all but 1,137 of them from out of state. Roughly two-thirds have been women. There have been 78 dissolutions.

Activists who observed Friday’s fifth anniversary of the Vermont law going into effect say it stops short of full equality for gay and lesbian couples. They plan to renew their push for full marriage – something newly granted in Spain and expected soon in Canada.

“We knew from the outset it wouldn’t get us where we need to go, which is full inclusion and equality for gay families,” said Beth Robinson, the lead lawyer in the suit that led to civil unions. “I think we’ve got plenty of work ahead of us.”

Opponents have remained largely silent since 2000, when Vermont’s Supreme Court ruled that gay and lesbian couples were being unconstitutionally denied marriage rights. Activists sought full marriage rights then, but lawmakers following the lead of Gov. Howard Dean decided the public was not ready for such a big step.

The Rev. Craig Bensen, who helped lead an opposition effort five years ago, said opponents would organize against any initiative for marriage.

“The legislative psychology, based on what I’ve been observing, is that neither side and certainly not the middle sees any great desire on anybody’s part to reopen the debate, just because of the huge amount of fallout that came with it the first time around,” Bensen said. “I think it would get very hot again.”

When couples leave Vermont, they don’t have any guarantee that partners can visit each other in a hospital or the authority to make medical decisions if one partner is incapacitated.

Farnham said they were going to a party this weekend in New York state.

“Legally in New York state we are not related to each other,” she said. “When you travel out of state people do not realize the benefits that we do not have, that you can’t carry them across the state line.”

Sandi Cote-Whitacre said that when she and her partner, Bobbi Cote-Whitacre, travel out of state they take along a sheaf of legal documents, including powers of attorney and other contracts that seek to make their relationship clear.

They both also are approaching retirement age and want to be married because that’s the only way the federal government allows one partner to qualify for the other’s Social Security and other pension-related benefits.

Still, even their civil union has benefits. Their auto insurance bill, for example, was halved to $600 because their insurer recognized them as spouses as soon as Vermont’s law went into effect.

“At that point we had been together 33 years and you think you’ve related to each other on every level possible,” Sandi Cote-Whitacre said. “But when we got up the next morning it was different and I don’t know what was different about it. That was the intangible that civil union gave couples. It added another level of commitment that I was surprised at and so was Bobbi.”

The very first couple to join in a civil union – Carolyn Conrad, 34, and Kathleen “KP” Peterson, 46, of Brattleboro – are happy with what they’ve got.

“It doesn’t make any sense to me to quibble over a word when I know that for me the civil union has been spectacular. And if it’s not enough for somebody else I’m sorry about that, but I’m really happy having a civil union,” Peterson said.