Francesca in France

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Gay marriage around the globe

Gay marriage has become an important political issue in the USEurope has a long tradition of protecting gay rights, with Denmark being the first country to introduce registered partnerships for gay couples in 1989.

For a while in 2003 and 2004, key US court decisions suggested that same-sex marriage would soon be legal in some parts of North America.
But, it became a polarising issue during the 2004 elections and voters in many states passed amendments outlawing gay marriage.
BBC News looks at where same-sex unions have been given the go-ahead in recent years, and the often intense debates which have surrounded them.

EUROPE

In a number of countries in Europe, the status of "registered partnership" has been established. In 1989, Denmark became the first country to institute legislation granting registered same-sex partners the same rights as married couples. Church weddings are not allowed.
Norway, Sweden and Iceland all enacted similar legislation in 1996, and Finland followed suit six years later.

The Nertherlands became the first country to offer full civil marriage rights to gay couples in 2001.

And in Belgium, gay marriages have been allowed since 2003.

Germany has allowed same-sex couples to register for "life partnerships" since 2001. The law only gives couples the same inheritance and tenants' rights as heterosexual married couples.

In 2004, Spain's Socialist government launched a radical reform of family law. It approved a draft law that will legalise homosexual marriage and give gays and lesbians full status as parents, enabling them to adopt children. The Catholic Church called on Spanish Catholics to fight the legislation.
France was also embroiled in gay culture wars in 2004, after a maverick mayor defied government warnings that he would be breaking the law and conducted the country's first gay marriage. Justice Minister Dominique Perben declared the wedding invalid and an appeals court in Bordeaux ruled that "a difference of sex is a condition of marriage", thereby nullifying that marriage.

Since 1999, France has allowed a civil contract called the Pacs, which gives some rights to cohabiting couples, regardless of their sex. This form of legal partnership does not give the full rights of marriage, notable over taxes, inheritance and adoption.

In Britain, homosexuals and lesbians are to be given similar financial and legal rights to married couples, under legislation that in December cleared its final parliamentary hurdle in the House of Lords. The civil partnerships bill, which would come into effect next year, will offer same-sex couples in registered partnerships similar rights and responsibilities to married couples, in areas such as pensions, property, social security, housing, tenancies and employment.
In Ireland, Prime Minister said in 2004 that the country should give greater rights to homosexual couples but that any moves to legalise gay marriage were a long way off. He was responding to a legal challenge by a lesbian couple seeking equal rights to married couples under Irish law.
In Austria, Luxembourg, Greece and Italy, there is no legal recognition or rights for unmarried couples.

CANADA

Six Canadian provinces and one territory currently issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples: British Columbia, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Yukon Territory. In December, the Supreme Court gave the federal government the go-ahead to legalise gay marriage, but stopped short of saying that this was required by the constitution.

NEW ZEALAND

In December, 2004, New Zealand's parliament passed controversial legislation to recognise civil unions between gay couples.

THE UNITED STATES

In November, 2004, voters in many states passed amendments to their state constitutions that defined marriage as being the union of a man and a woman. Congress, itself, has failed to pass such an amendment to the US constitution. Several states still have laws on their books banning sex between consenting adults of the same gender, even in the privacy of their own homes.

However, in a victory for gay rights advocates, the US Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that such a ban violates the US Constitution, and as such, is unenforceable under federal law.
President George W Bush has made clear that while he will support a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage, individual states will still be able to make their own arrangements on unions.
San Francisco started issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples in February, 2004, after the city's new mayor decided to defy state law and allow gay weddings. More than 3,400 gay couples got married but a halt was ordered by California's Supreme Court in March.

licenses to same-sex couples. It also ruled that the marriage licenses that had already been issued were void .
Massachusetts became the first state to issue marriage licences for gay couples in May, 2004. State legislators have proposed a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriages, but would allow civil unions. If the proposal passes further legal hurdles, it will go to the voters in a referendum in autumn 2006.
Thousands of same-sex couples in the Portland area of Oregon legally married in the spring of 2004. Officials in Multnomah County began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples before an amendment to the Oregon Constitution banning same-sex marriage in the state was approved by voters on in November.

In 2000, under the governorship of former Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean, Vermont became the first US state to offer homosexuals the right to join in civil unions. Under the legislation, same-sex partners are allowed to apply for a licence similar to a marriage certificate, giving them the same benefits as married couples on matters such as life insurance, health care and child custody.



Francesca commented: These are all because GAYS are voters. Any politician has to protect his own interests eh?More laws for the gays, more votes to prtect the position in the govt.

This will encourage more and more men to be gays. Or to get out of their closet. Genes ba ang problem? or the society itself? I go to put blame to the society where they associate with. Genes do not cause one tobe gay.It is the invironment that does it. Ones' genes is created by a Creator.
We cant put the gay genes to a God, He is not and never a Gay.