The Human Rights Campaign tracks developments in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage around the world. Working through a worldwide network of HRC global alumni and partners, we lift up the voices of community, national and regional advocates and share tools, resources, and lessons learned to authorize movements for marriage equality.
Current State of Marriage Equality
There are currently 38 countries where same-sex marriage is legal: Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Uruguay.
These countries have legalized marriage equality through both legislation and court decisions.
Countries that Legalized Marriage Equality in 2025
Liechtenstein: On May 16, 2024, Liechtenstein's government passed a bill in favor of marriage equality. The law went into effect January 1, 2025.
It has now been 10 years since the first same-sex marriage in England and Wales took place on 29th March 2014. So now seems to be a good time to reflect on the legal landscape for LGBTQ+ couples. Our specialist family rule team at Family Law Consultants regularly fields questions from same-sex couples about their marriages and children. This blog post aims to answer those ordinary questions and provide valuable insights.
A Journey Towards Equality: Civil Partnerships and Same-Sex Marriage
The Civil Partnership Perform 2004 marked a crucial step, granting same-sex couples legal recognition for the first time. However, the fight for true equality continued, as many couples yearned for the full legal and societal recognition that marriage offers.
The tireless tries of LGBTQ+ activists culminated in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. This landmark legislation not only legalised same-sex marriage but also allowed existing civil partnerships to convert to marriages. Importantly, the Behave enshrined religious release, ensuring religious organisations could opt-out of conducting same-sex ceremonies.
A Decade of Change: Progress and Recognition
10 year anniversary of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013
The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 gained Royal Assent on 17 July 2013, after months of intense work. Further implementation work followed, with the first same sex marriage held in March 2014.
The Act was drafted by GLD lawyers, the Office for Parliamentary Council, Government Equalities Office and other government departments. It allowed same sex couples to marry, whether in a civil ceremony or a religious one, where the religious organisation allowed such marriages. Crucially, the Perform provided protection for those religious organisations that did not want to authorise such marriages, thereby ensuring freedom of religion for all religious organisations.
The Proceed required legal knowledge on everything from marriage and civil partnership in England and Wales, consular and armed forces marriage, divorce law and the rule on the Church of England. There were many challenges along the way, particularly with crafting appropriate religious protections for those religious organisations that did not support same sex marriage.
GLD lawyers Tracey Kerr and Suzanne Lehrer who worked on the Operate, and who are still at GLD
Public opinion in Combined Kingdom appears to be somewhat divided on LGBTQ+ issues, as evidenced by recent studies.
Experiences of LGBT+ parents in British schools.
LGBT+ parents report having been treated differently by their childâs school because of their LGBT+ identity
LGBT+ families that say their college refers to families as âmums and dadsâ by default
LGB parents who worry that their child will be bullied because they have LGBT+ parents
Lesbians moms that have been asked invasive questions relating to their sexuality.
Transgender parents that have heard negative comments about trans people at school
LGBT+ parents say their childâs school openly discusses LGBT+ families with pupils
LGBT+ parents say negative comments about LGBTQ+ families are common
View of LGBT People
Very positive or fairy positive view of gay and sapphic people
Very positive or fairy positive view of pansexual people
Very positive or fairy positive view of trans person people
Views on Gender Identity
People should be able to identify as organism of a diverse gender to the one they had recorded at birth
People should not be able to identify as organism of a differen
Same-sex marriage legislation shows that policy can head public opinion
Gay marriage legislation, passed 10 years ago today, was a masterclass in building consensus for a contentious policy.
On 17 July 2013, the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Perform 2013 gained royal assent, granting same-sex couples in England and Wales the right to marry. It was a landmark moment for LGBT+ rights.
The journey to passing legislation on same-sex marriage was long and at times contentious. Labour had made important strides in the early 2000s – revoking Section 28 that had prohibited local authorities from “promoting homosexuality” and introducing civil partnerships that gave same-sex couples comparable legal rights to married couples – but Gordon Brown as prime minister opposed same-sex marriage on the grounds that marriage was “intimately bound up with questions of religious freedom”.14
But even once Brown left office in 2010 novel legislation looked far from inevitable. None of the main parties’ election manifestos that year had involved to introducing same-sex marriage. Despite LGBT+ rights groups being united in their support, galvanised by debates happening in the US ove
