This isn't required

It's sad to see Rudy Giuliani betray his moderate roots while trying to, apparently, imitate Mitt Romney. I’m just hoping that this is a bit of political posturing, which I was really hoping Mayor Giuliani would be above. We’ll see how it goes. He’s still the most pro-choice of the group but these sorts of statements are troublesome.

Giuliani continues his conservative shift
Boston Globe

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani continues to discard the moderate and liberal positions of his past. The latest is civil unions for same-sex couples, which the Republican presidential candidate has been backing away from in recent months.

A campaign aide told the Globe this weekend that Giuliani favors a much more modest set of rights for gay partners than civil union laws in effect in four states offer.

Giuliani has described himself as a backer of civil unions and is frequently described that way in news reports. But he began distancing himself from civil unions in late April, when his campaign told The New York Sun that New Hampshire's new law goes too far because it is "the equivalent of marriage," which he has always opposed for gays.

Giuliani's aides offered little explanation of what specific rights he would support for same-sex couples.