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MARRIAGE OVERSEAS
Argentina
Belgium
Canada
Iceland
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
United States of America
Introduction
The push for equal marriage
in Australia is actually
part of a wider worldwide movement to end discrimination
based on gender and sexuality and to protect and support people in same-sex
relationships and their families.
Argentina
In 2009 the
Argentinian Justice Minister, Aníbal Fernández,
indicated his support for equal marriage and the
Congress subsequently considered the proposal.
On 28 December 2009,
two men, Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre, became
the first same-sex couple to legally marry in
Argentina when the governor of the southern province
of Tierra del Fuego ordered the civil registry
office to perform their marriage.
Five same-sex couples
have since been married by Argentine judges but some
of the marriages were later overturned by higher
courts.
However, on 5 May
2010, the Chamber of Deputies passed a same-sex
marriage bill 125 votes to 109. The President
Cristina Fernandez has indicated she will not veto
the bill which is currently being considered by the
Senate.
Belgium
On 30
January 2003, Belgium became the
second country in the world to
legally recognise same-sex marriage.
Originally, Belgium allowed the
marriages of foreign same-sex
couples only if their country of
origin also allowed these unions.
Legislation enacted in October 2004,
however, now permits any couple to
marry in Belgium if at least one of
the spouses has lived in the country
for a minimum of three months.
On
22 July 2005, the Belgian government
announced that a total of 2,442 same
sex marriages had taken place in the
country since the extension of
marriage rights to same-sex couples
two and a half years earlier. This
constituted 1.2 percent of the total
number of marriages in Belgium
during that period.
According to the
Belgian Official
Journal, approximately two-thirds of the married couples were
gay male couples; the remainder were
lesbian couples.
Canada
Same-sex marriage was legalised across
Canada under the Civil Marriage Act
on 20 July 2005.
Provincial and territorial court
decisions, starting in Ontario in
June 2003, had already legalised
same-sex marriage in eight out of
ten provinces and one of three
territories, whose residents
comprised about 90% of Canada's
population. These courts had ruled
existing bans on issuing marriage
licences to same-sex couples
unconstitutional.
The
definition of marriage, however,
remained the responsibility of the
federal Canadian parliament.
On
1 February 2005 Paul Martin's
Liberal Government introduced Bill
C-38 to amend the Civil Marriage
Act. The Bill was passed by the
House of Commons on 29 June 2005, by
the Senate on 19 July 2005, and
received Royal Assent the following
day.
One reason why so many
Australian same-sex couples have married in Canada
is because there is no requirement to be a citizen
or resident in order to
marry there.
Marriage is
administered by each province of Canada. For further
information, visit their websites below:
Alberta
British Columbia
Manitoba
New Brunswick
Newfoundland and Labrador
Northwest Territory
Nova Scotia
Nunavut
Ontario
Prince Edward Island
Quebec
Saskatchewan
Yukon
Iceland
On 18 November 2009
the government of Iceland confirmed its intention to
introduce marriage legislation which would provide
for both opposite-sex and same-sex couples.
On 23 March 2010 the
government presented a bill which would repeal the
existing registered partnership law and allow
couples to marry regardless of gender. The bill was
approved by the Icelandic parliament (Althing) on 11
June 2010 with 49 votes in favour and no votes
against.
Effective 27 June
2010, the country's prime minister, Johanna
Sigurdardotti was one of the first to take advantage
of the new law by marrying her long-time partner
Jonina Leosdottir.
General information on
marrying in Iceland is available at
www.iceland.is
and
here for the capital Reykjavik.
Mexico
Mexico City’s Legislative Assembly voted 39-20 to
legalise same-sex marriage on 21 December 2009, with
the law taking effect in March 2010.
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard supported the measure and
signed it into law which changed the legal
definition of marriage from "a union between a man
and a woman" to "the free union of two people".
Netherlands
Same-sex marriages commenced in the Netherlands on 1
April 2001.
Registered
partnerships had been introduced on 1 January 1998
for same-sex couples but could also be entered into
by opposite-sex couples. Approximately one third of
registered partnerships are, in fact, of opposite-sex couples.
In 1995, the Dutch
parliament decided to create a special commission to
investigate the possibility of same-sex marriage.
The commission finished its work in 1997 concluding
that civil marriage should be opened up to same-sex
couples. Following the 1998 elections, the
government promised to tackle the issue and introduced legislation in September 2000.
The marriage bill obtained a
majority of 109 to 33 votes in
the
lower house, with the upper house
approving the bill on 19 December
2000. Only the Christian
parties voted against
the bill. Though they are now the
majority party in the present (2005)
ruling coalition, the Christian
Democrats have not shown the
slightest inclination to revert the
law.
The rules about
nationality and residence are
the same as for any other marriage
in the Netherlands: at least one
partner must either have Dutch nationality or reside in
the country.
Norway
The Norwegian Parliament (Storting)
approved equal marriage in June 2008 with the new laws taking effect
from 1 January 2009.
The legislation repeals the
Registered Partnership Act and provides previously registered
partners the option of converting their partnerships to marriage.
Portugal
A Bill to provide equal marriage was
introduced into the Portuguese parliament by Prime Minister José
Sócrates in January 2010 and subsequently passed by a 123-99 vote.
The President
Anibal Cavaco Silva announced his intention to ratify the new law on
17 May 2010.
Prime
Minister
Socrates said the aim of the
legislation was to remedy decades of injustice towards gays,
recalling that as recently as 1982 homosexuality was a crime in
Portugal.
"I am
of a generation - as we all are - which is not proud of the way it
treated homosexuals."
"This
is a step that will seem completely natural in the near future...gay
marriage has been approved by numerous countries and will be
approved by many more. I have no doubt about that."
Same-sex weddings are expected to
commence in June 2010. By law, at least one of the marrying parties
must
be resident in the local area of the Registry Office in Portugal for
a minimum of 30 days before they can give notice of their intention
to marry.
Further information on getting married
in Portugal is available on the
Portuguese Civil Registration Office’s website.
South Africa
On 1 December 2005 the
Constitutional Court of South Africa, in the case of
the Minister of Home Affairs v. Fourie, ruled
unanimously that it was unconstitutional to prevent
same-sex couples marrying when marriage was
permitted for people of the opposite sex.
The court instructed South
Africa's parliament to amend laws defining
marriage as a "union between a man and a woman" to a
"union between two persons".
The South African
constitution specifically outlaws discrimination on
the grounds of sexuality.
The Government
subsequently confirmed that it would respect the
judgement with the African National Congress stating
that the "ruling, like others before it, is an important step
forward in aligning the laws of the country with the
rights and freedoms contained in the South African
Constitution".
The law was
subsequently amended with the first same-sex
marriages commencing precisely one year after the
initial court judgement on 1 December 2006.
Spain
On 30 June 2004, the
Spanish Minister of Justice announced that the
Congress of Deputies had approved a government plan
to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples. The legislation
was subsequently passed by the Cortes on 30 June
2005 and same-sex marriage became
legal on 3 July 2005.
In support of his legislation in the
Spanish parliament, the Prime
Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero,
argued passionately in favour of equal
marriage rights. Excerpts from his
speech can be viewed here:
Zapatero's
Speech
You can marry in Spain
even if neither of you
are Spanish, but it’s
complicated. The
paperwork can take up to
6 months.
Although Spanish law
permits foreigners to
marry in Spain, the
various autonomous
regions of Spain
interpret this law
differently. Outside
Madrid, it may be
required that one party
be a Spanish citizen or
resident. We suggest you
consult beforehand with
the regional authority
of the area where you
intend to marry.
Sweden
The
Swedish Parliament (Riksdag) voted
on 1 April 2009 to approve
same-sex marriage with 261 votes for and 22 against the legislation.
The new law will
take effect on 1 May 2009
and repeals
legislation that
previously
allowed
same-sex couples to form a civil
union via a
registered partnership.
United States of America
Same-sex marriage is legal in
the states of Connecticut, Iowa,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont
and in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC).
The first state to
introduce equal marriage was Massachusetts when, on 18
November 2003, the Massachusetts
Supreme Judicial Court ruled
in Goodridge v. Department of
Public Health that the state's
ban on same-sex marriage was
unconstitutional, giving the state
legislature 180 days to change the
law.
The
court found that Massachusetts may
not "deny the protections, benefits
and obligations conferred by civil
marriage to two individuals of the
same sex who wish to marry" because
of a clause in the state's
constitution that forbids "the
creation of second-class citizens." The
court's ruling went into effect on
17 May 2004.
There are no residency
or citizenship requirements in order to marry in
those US states which provide equal marriage.
For further
information on marrying in the US, click on the
individual state name below:
Connecticut
Iowa
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
Vermont
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