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Same-sex marriage now legal in 30 countries

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Agence France-Presse

<p>PARIS, France - With Chilean lawmakers approving a same-sex marriage bill Tuesday, we look at the situation across the globe.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/12/08/21/chile-congress-approves-same-sex-marriage-bill">Chile Congress approves same-sex marriage bill</a></li></ul><p>While the right to marry has been legalized in 30 countries, homosexuality remains banned in many parts of the world.</p><div><strong>Europe, gay marriage pioneers</strong></div><p>On October 1, 1989, for the first time in the world, several gay couples in Denmark tied the knot in civil unions, which while giving their relationships a legal standing fell short of full marriage.</p><p>It was the Netherlands that first allowed gay marriages, giving more rights in April 2001.</p><p>Since then 16 European countries have followed suit in accepting gay marriages: Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and most recently Switzerland.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/09/27/21/swiss-voters-say-big-yes-to-same-sex-marriage">Swiss voters say big &#x27;yes&#x27; to same-sex marriage</a></li></ul><p>Other European countries allow only weaker civil partnerships for the LGBTQ community -- including Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Slovenia, which rejected gay marriages in a 2015 referendum.</p><p>The Czech government has backed draft legislation that would make the country the first post-communist member of the European Union to legalize same-sex marriage, but its fate is uncertain. </p><p>In Romania a referendum aimed at enshrining a ban on gay marriage in the constitution failed in 2018 because of a low turnout.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/03/15/21/in-setback-for-gay-catholics-vatican-says-church-cannot-bless-same-sex-unions">In setback for gay Catholics, Vatican says church cannot bless same-sex unions</a></li></ul><div><strong>Progress in the Americas</strong></div><p>Canada was the first American country to authorize same-sex marriage in 2005.</p><p>In 2015 the US Supreme Court legalized gay marriage nationwide at a time when it was banned in 14 out of 50 states.</p><p>However the United States&#x27; first gay marriage actually took place in 1971, when a Minnesota couple obtained a marriage license thanks to an overlooked legal loophole. The marriage was officially recognized in March 2019, after a five-decade legal battle. </p><p>In Latin America six countries allow same-sex marriages: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Costa Rica, which rubber-stamped it last year.</p><p>Mexico&#x27;s federal capital authorized gay marriages in 2009. Half of its 32 states have followed.</p><p>Chile legalized gay civil unions in 2015, and its congress on Tuesday passed a bill legalizing full-blown same-sex marriage.</p><p>Cuba left changes that would have paved the way for legal same-sex marriage out of its new constitution adopted in 2019. In 2021, a draft of a new family code opened the door to same-sex marriage, but it will be put to a referendum. </p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1854493" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><div><strong>Taiwan, first in Asia</strong></div><p>While much of Asia is tolerant of homosexuality, in May 2019 Taiwan became the first in the region to allow gay marriage.</p><p>In Japan, a court in northern Sapporo ruled in 2021 that the country&#x27;s failure to recognize same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, in a landmark first verdict on the issue.</p><p>Australia (2017) and New Zealand (2013) are the only places in the wider Asia-Pacific region to have passed gay marriage laws.</p><p>In the Middle East, where homosexuality is repressed, Israel leads the way in terms of gay rights, recognizing same-sex marriages that are sealed elsewhere although not allowing such unions in the country itself.</p><p>Several countries in the conservative region still have the death penalty for homosexuality, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.</p><div><strong>Africa: marriage in one country</strong></div><p>South Africa is the sole nation on the African continent to allow gay marriage, which it legalized in 2006.</p><p>Around 30 African countries ban homosexuality, with Mauritania, Somalia and Sudan having the death penalty for same-sex relations. </p><p>bur-eab/fg/pbr/jmy</p><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1641572" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

While the right to marry has been legalized in 30 countries, homosexuality remains banned in many parts of the world.