Gay marriage legalized countries

The law only applies to England and Wales because Scotland and Northern Ireland are semi-autonomous and have separate legislative bodies to decide many domestic issues, including the definition of marriage. Before the ruling, 36 states and the District of Columbia had legalized same-sex marriage.

Since the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in , more than 30 countries around the world have followed suit. So far, more than two dozen countries have enacted national laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry, mostly in Europe and the Americas.

On Feb. In addition to allowing same-sex couples to wed, the measure gives churches and other religious groups the option of deciding whether or not they want to conduct such marriages. The two largest churches in Scotland — the Church of Scotland and the Roman Catholic Church — oppose same-sex marriage and lobbied against the bill.

On Dec. Along with New Zealand, Australia became the second country in the Asia-Pacific region to to make same-sex marriage legal. The new law in England and Wales, which was a priority for British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader David Cameron, allowed gay and lesbian couples to marry beginning March 29, However, the law prohibits same-sex weddings within the Church of England, which continues to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

Since the beginning of , several anti-gay marriage protests with occasionally volatile crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands have taken place in Paris and elsewhere. Of these eighty-eight countries, the number of countries that have legalized gay marriage is a total of twenty-four nations.

A growing number of governments around the world are considering whether to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages. True to their campaign promises, Hollande and the Socialists have pushed through a law that not only legalizes same-sex marriage but also gives gay and lesbian couples the right to adopt children—a provision that has drawn especially strong criticism from French Catholic leaders.

The day before, the measure had won final passage in the British Parliament after months of debate. As of , marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of billion people (20% of the world's population).

See a timeline highlighting changes in state policies from Greenland On May 22, , Catholic-majority Ireland became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular referendum. The most recent jurisdiction to legalize same-sex marriage is Thailand.

On June 30, , Germany became the 15th European country to enact legislation allowing same-sex couples to wed. While recent polls show that a majority of French adults support the law, opposition to the change has been intense. In Mexico, some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to wed, while others do not.

On April 28, , Colombia became the fourth country in Catholic-majority South America to legalize same-sex marriage, following Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. On April 17, the New Zealand Parliament gave final approval to a measure that legalizes same-sex marriage, making the Pacific island nation the 13th country in the world and the first in the Asia-Pacific region to allow gays and lesbians to wed.

Thailand has become the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage, joining a list of nearly 40 countries and territories globally. Civil unions have been permitted in Uruguay since , and gay and lesbian couples were given adoption rights in Uruguay is among the most secular countries in Latin America.

In addition to allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt, the legislation sets the legal age of marriage at 18 and eliminates the existing requirement that couples who want to marry must first submit to a medical exam. The law took effect in August In , New Zealand enacted legislation allowing same-sex couples to enter into civil unions.

Same-sex marriage will become legal in Finland starting in Finland becomes the last of the five Nordic countries to legalize same-sex marriage, joining Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Eleven years after same-sex marriage was first made legal in Massachusetts, the U. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution guarantees it throughout the country.

In , the Netherlands became the very first country to ever legalize gay marriage. On May 18, French President Francois Hollande signed into law a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, making France the 14th country to grant gays and lesbians the right to wed. The measure not only legalizes same-sex marriage but also allows for gay and lesbian couples to adopt children.

Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal sex. Same-sex marriage is legally recognized in a.