Same-sex marriage in 2010
THE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE debate may seem like old news, but changes to laws are anything but. As this infographic shows, the vast majority of countries worldwide have yet to recognize even common-law unions (or the equivalent) between members of the same sex. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, with Canada following suit four years later. Some U.S. states (Connecticut, D.C., Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont) have done the same, but the country as a whole seems to remain as one of gay-rights activists’ final barriers to widespread acceptance.
Same-sex couples may legally marry and are granted the same rights and privileges within marriage as heterosexual couples
Same-sex couples who have lived together for a certain number of years—the number varies from region to region—are able to have their status as common-law (or the equivalent) recognized by the state
Legal recognition of a same-sex couple’s union, but usually without the same number of rights and privileges accorded to married couples
