Everyone takes pause at 40. It's the age you have to assess everything in your life. It's the fictitious marker that's always coming up when you're young. The world really does look at you to kind of have it together by 40 and be successful by 40. Whatever success means.
However saying that I totally support the concept of civil partnerships in the eyes of the law and think it a disgrace that same sex couples have had to wait so long for legal rights protection and recognition.