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The Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA),also referred to by proponents as the Marriage Protection Amendment,was a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution that would legally define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. The FMA would also prevent judicial extension of marriage rights to same-sex (gay) or other unmarried homosexual couples.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Massachusetts since May 17,2004,as a result of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry. Massachusetts was the sixth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first U.S. state to open marriage to same-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in New York since July 24,2011 under the Marriage Equality Act. The Act does not have a residency restriction,as some similar laws in other U.S. states do. It also allows religious organizations to decline to officiate at same-sex wedding ceremonies.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Vermont since September 1,2009. Vermont was the first state to introduce civil unions on July 1,2000,and the first state to introduce same-sex marriage by enacting a statute without being required to do so by a court decision. Same-sex marriage became legal earlier as the result of court decisions,not legislation,in four states:Massachusetts,California,Connecticut,and Iowa.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in New Jersey since October 21,2013,the effective date of a trial court ruling invalidating the state's restriction of marriage to persons of different sexes. In September 2013,Mary C. Jacobson,Assignment Judge of the Mercer Vicinage of the Superior Court,ruled that as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 2013 decision in United States v. Windsor,the Constitution of New Jersey requires the state to recognize same-sex marriages. The Windsor decision held that the federal government was required to provide the same benefits to same-sex couples who were married under state law as to other married couples. Therefore,the state court reasoned in Garden State Equality v. Dow that,because same-sex couples in New Jersey were limited to civil unions,which are not recognized as marriages under federal law,the state must permit civil marriage for same-sex couples. This ruling,in turn,relied on the 2006 decision of the New Jersey Supreme Court in Lewis v. Harris that the state was constitutionally required to afford the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples. The Supreme Court had ordered the New Jersey Legislature to correct the constitutional violation,by permitting either same-sex marriage or civil unions with all the rights and benefits of marriage,within 180 days. In response,the Legislature passed a bill to legalize civil unions on December 21,2006,which became effective on February 19,2007.
Italy has recognised same-sex civil unions since 5 June 2016,providing same-sex couples with all of the legal protections enjoyed by opposite-sex married couples,excluding joint and stepchild adoption rights. A bill to allow such unions,as well as gender-neutral registered partnerships,was approved by the Senate on 25 February 2016 and the Chamber of Deputies on 11 May and signed into law by the Italian President on 20 May of the same year. The law was published in the official gazette the next day and took effect on 5 June 2016. Before this,several regions had supported a national law on civil unions and some municipalities passed laws providing for civil unions,though the rights conferred by these civil unions varied from place to place.
This article contains a timeline of significant events regarding same-sex marriage and legal recognition of same-sex couples worldwide. It begins with the history of same-sex unions during ancient times,which consisted of unions ranging from informal and temporary relationships to highly ritualized unions,and continues to modern-day state-recognized same-sex marriage. Events concerning same-sex marriages becoming legal in a country or in a country's state are listed in bold.
Louise Clare Pratt is an Australian politician who has been a Senator for Western Australia since 2016,and previously from 2008 to 2014. She is a member of the Labor Party,and served as a member of the Western Australian Legislative Council from 2001 to 2007. She was the youngest woman ever elected to the Legislative Council at the time of her election and the second open lesbian to be elected to an Australian parliament.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Chile since 10 March 2022. In June 2021,the President of Chile,Sebastián Piñera,announced that his government would sponsor a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. The Senate of Chile passed the legislation on 21 July 2021,and the Chamber of Deputies gave its approval on 23 November 2021. Disagreements on some aspects of the bill led to the formation of a mixed commission to discuss it. Both chambers of the National Congress approved an identical version of the bill on 7 December 2021. President Piñera signed the legislation into law on 9 December,and it was published in the Diario Oficial de la República de Chile on 10 December. The law took effect 90 days later,with the first same-sex marriages taking place on 10 March 2022. Chile became the sixth country in South America to allow same-sex couples to marry.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Connecticut since November 12,2008,following a state court decision that found the state's civil unions failed to provide same-sex couples with rights and privileges equivalent to those of marriage. Connecticut was the second U.S. state to legalize same-sex marriage,after neighboring Massachusetts.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Maryland since January 1,2013. In 2012,the state's Democratic representatives,led by Governor Martin O'Malley,began a campaign for its legalization. After much debate,a law permitting same-sex marriage was passed by the General Assembly in February 2012 and signed on March 1,2012. The law took effect on January 1,2013 after 52.4% of voters approved a statewide referendum held on November 6,2012. The vote was hailed as a watershed moment by gay rights activists and marked the first time marriage rights in the United States had been extended to same-sex couples by popular vote.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Rhode Island since August 1,2013. The state had authorized a limited form of domestic partnerships from 2002 to 2011 and the formation of civil unions from 2011 until the state began recognizing same-sex marriages in 2013. Rhode Island was the last U.S. state in New England to legalize same-sex marriage.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Illinois since a law signed by Governor Pat Quinn on November 20,2013 took effect on June 1,2014. Same-sex marriage legislation was introduced in successive sessions of the Illinois General Assembly from 2007 to 2013. It passed the Senate in February 2013,but legislators delayed a vote in the House while lobbying for votes until November 5,2013,when the House passed an amended version of the bill by a narrow margin. The Senate quickly approved the amended bill and Governor Quinn signed it into law on November 20. The law went into effect (statewide) on June 1,2014,with same-sex couples able to apply for marriage licenses and then marry after the mandatory one-day waiting period.
Same-sex marriage has been fully recognized in Minnesota since August 1,2013. Same-sex marriages have been recognized if performed in other jurisdictions since July 1,2013,and the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples on August 1,2013. After 51.9% of state voters rejected a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in November 2012,the Minnesota Legislature passed a same-sex marriage bill in May 2013,which Governor Mark Dayton signed on May 14,2013. Minnesota was the second state in the Midwest,after Iowa,to legalize marriage between same-sex couples,and the first in the region to do so by enacting legislation rather than by court order. Minnesota was the first state to reject a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage,though Arizona rejected one in 2006 that banned all legal recognition and later approved one banning only marriage.
House Bill 444 was a 2009 bill of the Hawaii State Legislature,passed in April 2010 and vetoed by Governor of Hawaii Linda Lingle,that would have legalized civil unions for couples in the state of Hawaii. Its legislative process was accompanied by controversy over the bill's content and effects and rallies were held by supporters and opponents.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Pennsylvania since May 20,2014,when a U.S. federal district court judge ruled that the state's 1996 statutory ban on recognizing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Governor Tom Corbett announced the following day that he would not appeal the decision. Pennsylvania had previously prohibited the recognition of same-sex marriage by statute since 1996,but had never added such a ban to its State Constitution.
Lesbian,gay,bisexual,and transgender (LGBT) people in the U.S. state of Delaware enjoy the same legal protections as non-LGBT people. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Delaware since January 1,1973. On January 1,2012,civil unions became available to same-sex couples,granting them the "rights,benefits,protections,and responsibilities" of married persons. Delaware legalized same-sex marriage on July 1,2013.
Same-sex marriage has been legally recognized in Delaware since July 1,2013. Governor Jack Markell signed legislation legalizing same-sex marriage on May 7,2013,just hours after its passage in the Delaware House of Representatives and Senate. Though Rhode Island enacted legislation legalizing same-sex marriage before Delaware,on July 1,Delaware became the eleventh U.S. state,and the twelfth U.S. jurisdiction,to allow same-sex couples to marry,preceding Minnesota and Rhode Island by one month.
The Marriage Equality Act is a 2011 landmark New York State law that made same-sex marriage legal. The bill was introduced in the New York State Assembly by Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell and in the New York State Senate by Senator Thomas Duane. It was signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on June 24,2011 and took effect on July 24,2011.
The history of same-sex marriage in Australia includes its express prohibition by the Howard government in 2004 and its eventual legalisation by the Parliament in December 2017. Although a same-sex marriage law was passed by the Australian Capital Territory in 2013,it was struck down by the High Court on the basis of inconsistency with federal law. The Court's decision closed the possibility of concurrent state or territory laws that would allow same-sex marriage where federal law did not. A law legalising same-sex marriage passed the Parliament on 7 December 2017 and received royal assent the following day.
References
- ↑ "Karen Peterson, Delaware State Senator, Comes Out During Gay Marriage Debate". Huffington Post , May 7, 2013.
- ↑ Michelle Garcia, "No. 11: Marriage Equality Signed in Delaware"
- ↑ Neff, Lisa. "Delaware gay couples marry" Wisconsin Gazette July 11, 2013; p. 4, col. 3
