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1. Argentina legalized same-sex marriage on July 15th 2010.
2. Austria allows civil unions ("registered partnerships") since January 1st, 2010. Benefits are mostly equal to full marriages but exclude adoption rights.
3. Belgium was the second nation, after the Netherlands, to legalize same-sex marriage on January 30th 2003, in an at the time controversial move.
4. Brazil has had civil unions since 2004. The situation was complex but a number of these unions had been recognised as marriages. Marriage was legal as of December 2012 in the states of Bahia and Săo Paulo. In May 14, 2013, a Federal Court ruling legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
5. Canada legalized gay marriage in the province of Ontario in 2003.[64] Other provinces soon followed suit, and it was legalized across the country on July 20 2005, later surviving a second vote called by the Conservative government of Stephen Harper in 2006, who following the vote declared that the he "[doesn't] see reopening this question in the future."
6. The Czech Republic established civil unions in July 2006.
7. Denmark was the first country to establish registered partnerships in 1989. The relevant rights have since been steadily expanded and cover adoptions as of July 2010. Full marriage as of June 2012.
8. Finland has been allowing civil unions since 2002, including the right to adopt a partner's own children. Attempts to introduce a gender neutral marriage law failed in 2012 after a 9 to 8 decision by the Legal Affairs Committee of the
9. Finnish Parliament. However, on March 19th, 2013, a citizens initiative managed to collect the 50,000 signatures required to override the Committee's decision in just a single day, putting the bill before parliament.[66]
10. France established civil unions in the form of private contracts in 1999. They're open to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples and equal to marriages as far as taxation is concerned, but lack some joint property and adoption rights. Same-sex marriage was legalized on May 18th, 2013.[67]
11. Germany has been allowing civil unions (called "registered partnerships") for same-sex couples since 2001. They currently include most of the benefits of a full marriage. Following a 2009 ruling by Germany's constitutional court, full equality to marriage will have to be implemented.
12. Greece started recognizing same-sex civil unions in December of 2015.
13. Hungary began to recognize same-sex registration on July 1, 2009.
14. Iceland legalized same-sex marriage in June 2010.
15. Ireland approved a bill establishing civil unions with privileges equal to opposite-sex cohabitation (but not marriages, notably excluding joint adoption) in July 2010. The law came into effect on January 1st, 2011. Civil unions could not be classed as 'marriages' due to the constitution's definition, but following a referendum on May 22nd, 2015, the constitution was amended with a 62% majority to explicitly include same-sex couples.
16. Israel recognizes marriages granted in other countries. A bill to legalize same sex marriage failed in May 2012.
17. Japan conferred all rights of married couples to gay couples married outside of Japan, if one of the partners is a legal citizen or resident of that foreign country on March 27, 2009. So a Japanese couple can't go to Sweden just to get married, but if one of them is a Swede, Japan will recognize the marriage and give them the legal status of marriage for all government-related issues.
18. Luxembourg established civil unions without joint adoption rights in 2004. The government introduced a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in July 2010.
19. Mexico has legalized same sex marriage in two cities, however a same sex marriage ban was struck down in December 2012.
20. The Netherlands became the first nation to grant same-sex marriages in April 2001. They are not granted, however, in the other constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (i.e. Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten), though these countries must recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
21. Norway legalized same-sex marriage on June 12, 2008 (effective January 1, 2009). They also made adoption easier for same-sex couples, and made lesbian couples eligible for state-funded fertility drugs.
22. Portugal legalized same-sex marriage in 2010, the relevant bill came into effect on June 5th.
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