The Q Center Syracuse

Same-sex marriage in the rest of the world:

1. Year 2000: * Netherlands: Gay and lesbian couples, who are either citizens of the Netherlands or who have residency permits, are able to marry and adopt. This was the first country in the world to make same-sex marriages available. More details.
2. 2003: Belgium: Same-sex couples couples who are residents or citizens can marry, but cannot yet adopt. More details.
3. 2005: Spain: The country legalized SSM in 2005-JUN. More details.
4. 2005: Canada: The country legalized SSM in 2005-JUL-20. More details. Because of Canada’s closeness to the U.S. in terms of culture and geography, we have covered events leading up to SSM in detail.
5. 2006: South Africa: Their Constitutional Court — South Africa’s highest court — ruled on 2005-DEC that same-sex marriages must be legalized within a year. On 2006-NOV-15, their legislature passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, by a vote of 230 to 41 with three abstentions.
6. 2008: Norway: Enabling legislation was passed during 2008-JUN; since 2009, same-sex couples have been able to marry. More details.
7. 2009: Sweden: Enabling legislation was overwhelmingly passed by Parliament on 2009-APR-01. It took effect on 2009-MAY-01. More details.
8. 2009: Mexico City: The city became the first jurisdiction in Latin America to legalize SSM on 2009-DEC-21.
9. 2009: Argentina: Ushuaia, the southern-most city in the world saw the first SSM in Latin America. It is located in Tierra del Fuego province at the southern tip of Argentina. More info.
10. 2010: Portugal: Amazingly, this country in which 97% of the population identifies with the Roman Catholic Church, turned its back on the Church’s teachings and legalized SSM. The first same-sex couple were married on JUN-07
11. 2010: Iceland: The first same-sex couple to be married was Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her long-time female partner Jonina Leosdottir.
12. 2010: Argentina: By mid-July, both houses in the Government had passed a same-sex marriage bill amid intense opposition from the Roman Catholic Church and evangelical Christian groups. It was signed into law; same-sex marriages have been available since 2010-JUL-22. More details.