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2005-FEB-01: Canada: Bill C-38 was introduced in the federal
Parliament to allow all loving committed couples to marry. |
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2005-FEB-24: Ontario: The Ontario Legislature easily passed
Bill 171 by a voice vote. It amended 73 pieces of existing legislation,
replacing terms like "husband" and "wife" with gender-neutral terms like
"spouse." |
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2005-APR-20: Connecticut: Governor Rell (R) signed a bill
into law which will made civil unions available to same-sex couples in
the state starting on 2005-OCT-01. More details |
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2005-JUN-05: Switzerland: Swiss voters approved a referendum on a proposed Eingetragene Partnerschaft
(registered partnership) law introduced by the Swiss government. |
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2005-JUN-29: Spain: The Congress of Deputies voted 187 to 147, with four abstentions, to legalize SSM. The bill is
took effect by 2005-JUL-15. This is the third country to legalize SSM. More details. |
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2005-JUL-20: Canada: Bill C-38 to allow same-sex couples to marry across Canada,
was signed into law. Canada became the fourth country to legalize SSM.
Prince Edward Island refused to recognize the federal law, but later backed down
when a lesbian couple threatened to sue the province. More details |
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2005-DEC-05: UK: A new civil partnership law came into effect on. This gave same-sex couples all of the rights of opposite-sex married couples except the right to call their relationship a marriage. More details. |
2006:
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2006-AUG-24, South Africa: The Supreme Court of Appeal had ruled on 2004-NOV-29 that SSM was legal. On 2005-DEC-01, that
decision was unanimously confirmed by their Constitutional Court -- the
country's highest court. However, the latter court suspended its own ruling for
12 months in order to give the South African government time to modify its
marriage legislation. On 2006-AUG-24, the Cabinet released a bill that would
legalize SSM in the country. |
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2006-OCT: New Jersey: In an unprecedented move, the seven justices of
the state supreme court voted unanimously that equal rights must be granted to
same-sex couples. By a 7 to 0 vote, the court determined that all
citizens had the right to the protections of marriage regardless of gender,
and that their children must enjoy equal rights whether their parents
are of the same or opposite sexes. They left the decision whether to
create same-sex marriage or same-sex unions up to the legislature. 7 On 2006-DEC-14, both chambers of the New Jersey legislature passed a
bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples. More details. |
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2006-NOV-14: South Africa: Legislators overwhelmingly
passed a bill to legalize SSM. The vote was 230 to 41 with three abstentions.
South Africa became the first country in Africa, and the sixth country or
jurisdiction in the world to give same-sex couples the same rights as
opposite-sex couples after Belgium, Canada, Holland, Massachusetts, and Spain. More details |
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2006-NOV-21: Israel: The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in a 6 to 1 decision that the government must recognize same-sex marriages made elsewhere. Massive outrage is expected among the country's social and religious conservatives. The case involved a gay couple who traveled to Canada, were married, returned to their home in Israel, and asked the government to recognize their relationship. Israel ibecame the seventh country to recognize SSM. More details. |
2007:
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2007-JAN-01: Switzerland: The Swiss Eingetragene Partnerschaft (registered
partnership) law went into effect. |
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2007-FEB-22: Rhode Island: Attorney General
Patrick Lynch said that same-sex marriages solemnized in Massachusetts
are to be recognized in Rhode Island. Same-sex married couples are to
receive the full set of state benefits, rights and obligations that
opposite-sex couples routinely receive. More details. |
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2007-MAY-31: New Hampshire: A civil union bill was signed into law. It took effect on 2008-JAN-01. More details. |
2008:
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2008-FEB-01: New York: An
appellate court in New York state ruled unanimously that same-sex
marriages legally solemnized elsewhere must be recognized as valid
marriages in New York state. More details. |
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2008-FEB-01: Oregon: A state law allowing same-sex couples to register as
domestic partners took effect. More details. |
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2008-MAY-14: California: The state Supreme Court ruled in
favor of the plaintiffs. Same-sex couples were able to marry in the state
starting in 2008-JUN-17. More details. |
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2008-JUN-11: Norway: The legislature
legalized same-sex marriage, effective 2009-JAN-01. More details |
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2008-OCT-10: Connecticut: The state Supreme Court legalized
SSM. The law took effect on OCT-28. More details. |
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2008-NOV-04: California: Proposition 8 narrowly passed on
2008-NOV-04 by a margin of only 2%. This has terminated all new SSMs in the
state. The constitutionality of Prop. 8 was upheld by the California Supreme
Court. About 36,000
gays, lesbians and bisexuals had married during 2008 and their marriages will
remain recognized. This is the first time in history for a state to authorize SSMs
and then discontinue them. |
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2008-NOV-06: Sweden: Sweden's Parliament is preparing to consider a new "gender neutral" marriage law that
would allow same-sex couples to marry. More information |
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2008-DEC-15: Hungary: The parliament had passed legislation
in 2007 that would allow unmarried opposite-sex or same-sex couples register
their union beginning on 2009-JAN-01. This would have given the registering
couples almost the same rights and protections as have been enjoyed by
opposite-sex married couples. The Constitutional Court annulled the law, stating that it "downgraded" the institution of marriage. |
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2008-APR-02: Sweden: The Swedish parliament passed a gender-neutral
marriage bill that allowed same-sex couples to marry as of 2009-MAY-01. More details. |
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2008-APR-03: Iowa: The Iowa Supreme Court determined that the state constitution's law guaranteeing every citizen equal rights made the defense of marriage act unconstitutional. Same-sex marriages bacame available during late 2009-APR. Religious and social conservatives in the state subsequently took out their anger against the judges by terminating the service of some of the judges. |
This topic continues in the next essay for events from 2009 to now
Related essay:
Current status of SSM in the U.S., Canada, Europe, etc. Includes map of the U.S.
Copyright © 2005 to 2013 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update and review: 2013-APR-28
Author: B.A. Robinson
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