INTRODUCTION
One of the most exciting things about
same-sex marriage is the momentum that has been building around the issue
within the last few years. The status of marriage equality changes so rapidly
that this blog post will likely be outdated in a matter of weeks (indeed, this is the third version of this article in just under a month).
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| The state of same-sex marriage as of June 4, 2013 |
The U.S. Supreme Court's June 26 decisions are the most recent news on the marriage front, the first tangible development in about a month. The first of these decisions extends federal benefits to married same-sex couples, while the second resumes marriages in California after a nearly five-year hiatus (more about this later).
Although the month of June was pretty calm in terms of marriage equality, May saw victory after victory on the marriage front. Two nations
(Uruguay and France) and three American states (Delaware, Rhode Island, and Minnesota)
legalised same-sex marriage, while Brazil opened the door to nation-wide
marriage equality.
England & Wales are likely to be the next jurisdictions to
legalise marriage, although there are also pushes for marriage equality in several U.S. states.
This is truly an exciting time for
marriage advocates.
---
SAME-SEX
MARRIAGE LEGAL
Twelve
countries currently perform same-sex marriages:
Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal, Spain, South Africa, and Sweden.
Two other countries – New Zealand
and Uruguay – have enacted same-sex
marriage laws that will go into effect in the next few months.
Marriages
are also performed in certain jurisdictions within Mexico (Mexico
City and Quintana Roo).
In the United States, nine states (Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington) and the District of Columbia currently perform marriages. Four more (California, Delaware, Minnesota, and Rhode Island) will begin performing marriages within the next few months.
In Israel, same-sex marriages are not performed, but foreign marriages are recognised.
Brazil's status is a little more unique, in that about half
of Brazil’s 26 states currently perform same-sex marriages following a 2011
court ruling, but all states theoretically recognise legally-performed marriages.
A May 14, 2013 National Council of Justice ruling
made same-sex marriage de facto legal
in the country, but the national Congress must still act to authorise same-sex
marriage. If congressionally approved, Brazil would be the fifteenth country
and (by far) the most populous nation with full marriage equality. France is the
most populous nation that currently performs same-sex marriage.
---
It should be noted that a country's recognition of same-sex marriage does not necessarily indicate full equality for LGBT persons, as these countries may lack employment protections, adoption rights, and other important safeguards for non-heterosexual or non-cisgender people. Their records in other human rights areas may also be poor or inconsistent.
According to my calculations, about 605
million people, or 8.5% of the world’s population, live in a jurisdiction that
performs same-sex marriages. With the exception of South Africa and New Zealand, all of the countries that have legalised same-sex marriage are located in Europe and the Americas.
What follows is a list of all countries
that have legalised same-sex marriage. Population figures are based largely on
Wikipedia information, so this is meant solely as an overview. Please forgive the formatting issues with this table...
---
Nation or Jurisdiction
|
Population
|
Argentina (2010)
|
041,281,631
|
Belgium (2003)
|
011,041,266
|
Brazil (2013)A
|
193,946,886
|
Canada (2005)
|
033,476,688
|
Denmark (2012)
|
005,580,413
|
France (2013)
|
065,350,000
|
Iceland (2010)
|
000,321,857
|
MexicoB
|
010,291,894D
|
- Mexico City (2010)
|
-
08,851,080
|
- Quintana Roo (2012)
|
-
01,440,814
|
Netherlands (2001)
|
016,751,323
|
New Zealand (2013)E
|
004,451,017
|
Norway (2009)
|
005,033,675
|
Portugal (2010)
|
010,581,949
|
South Africa (2006)
|
051,770,560
|
Spain (2005)
|
047,265,321
|
Sweden (2009)
|
009,555,893
|
United StatesB,C
|
094,958,710D
|
- California (2008/2013)E
|
-
38,041,430
|
- Connecticut (2008)
|
-
03,590,347
|
- Delaware (2013)E
|
-
00,917,092
|
- Iowa (2009)
|
-
03,074,186
|
- Maine (2012)
|
-
01,329,192
|
- Maryland (2013)
|
-
05,884,563
|
- Massachusetts (2004)
|
-
06,646,144
|
- Minnesota (2013)E
|
-
05,379,139
|
- New Hampshire (2010)
|
-
01,320,718
|
- New York (2011)
|
-
19,570,261
|
- Rhode Island (2013)E
|
-
01,050,292
|
- Vermont (2009)
|
-
00,626,011
|
- Washington (2012)
|
-
06,897,012
|
- District of Columbia (2010)
|
-
00,632,323
|
Uruguay (2013)E
|
003,318,535
|
Worldwide
Total
|
604,977,618
|
---
NOTES ON TABLE:
A) As explained above, Brazil is a special case, but
same-sex marriage has been de facto legalised on a national level.
B) In Mexico and the United States, marriages are performed only in specific
territories. In Mexico, marriages are recognised nationally, while in the U.S. legal marriages are recognised by the federal government but are generally not recognised in states that do not perform such marriages.
C) I could not find population figures for US
tribal jurisdictions that perform same-sex marriages.
D) The national figures for Mexico and the United States are
based on a sum of marriage-performing jurisdictions, rather than the total
population for the respective countries.
The following percentages are the total percentage of the national population
living in marriage-performing territories: 8.9% of Mexico’s population (10,291,894/115,296,767) and 30.0% of the United States population (94,958,710/315,562,000).
E) The following jurisdictions have legalised same-sex
marriage but have not started to issue marriage licenses: Delaware (July 1st),
Uruguay, Minnesota & Rhode Island (August 1st), New Zealand (August 19th). California will likely begin issuing marriage licenses by the beginning of August, but no official date has been announced as yet.
---
IN-PROGRESS
& UPCOMING: UNITED STATES
In the United States, 53% of the public now supports marriage equality, a nearly 10% jump in public support in the last three years alone. Support is strongly correlated with age, with 70% of under-30s and 41% of seniors supporting.
Thus far, thirteen states have legalised same-sex marriage, six of which have done so since November 2012 (three
on November 6 and three in
May). Illinois was poised to
become the next state (and fourth of May 2013) to legalise same-sex
marriage, with a bill passing the Senate with the governor’s
support, but the House
adjourned
without voting on the bill, meaning November is the earliest it is
likely to go through.
---
Six states, including Illinois, have some form of domestic partnership or civil union for same-sex couples. However, five of these states have laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. In fact, a whole thirty-five states have legal prohibitions
against same-sex marriage (6 statutes and 29 constitutional amendments). The
only two states that have neither prohibited nor legalised same-sex marriage
are New
Jersey and New Mexico, but there is likely to be no change soon in
either state.
In the 29 states with constitutional bans, marriage
equality will likely have to wait a number of election cycles and overcome
other procedural hurdles, so the momentum is likely to slow down for a while. In fact, it may take decades before same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, given the low public support in southern "Bible Belt" states.
.png) |
USA: Marriage Equality (Dark Blue); Statute banning same-sex marriage (Pink); Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage (Red); Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage and some or all same-sex unions (Dark Red); No law prohibiting or recognising same-sex marriage (White).
States with same-sex unions, but not marriage, are indicated with a light blue asterisk (*).
(Map based off Wikipedia model) |
BYE BYE TO PROP 8 & DOMA
On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court issued decisions in two highly-anticipated marriage cases.
The first case dealt with Section 3 of the so-called Defense of Marriage
Act (DOMA):
- Section 3. Definition of marriage: In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling,
regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and
agencies of the United States, the word 'marriage' means only a legal
union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word
'spouse' refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or
a wife.
Essentially, Section 3 of DOMA defines marriage for federal purposes as the union of one
man and one woman. Under this section, even if a same-sex couple is legally married
in one of the states or Washington D.C., their marriage is not
recognised by the federal government, denying them about 11,000 federal rights and benefits of marriage. This provision was struck down, allowing for federal recognition of state-supported marriages.
This decision had an immediate impact on binational same-sex couples, with a New York immigration judge halting the deportation of a Colombian man minutes after the decision was announced.
DOMA's Section 2, which limits inter-state recognition of
marriage to heterosexual marriages, was not challenged in the lawsuit. In other words, a same-sex couple married in one
of the thirteen states will still find their marriage unrecognised if they relocate or
travel to a state in which same-sex marriage is illegal.
---
The second case dealt with California's Proposition 8.
In May 2008, California's Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had a right to marriage. Following this ruling, about 18,000 same-sex
couples were married between June and November 2008, when Proposition 8
outlawed same-sex marriage in the state. The 18,000 who had been married were still
recognised as legally wed, but no further marriages could be performed.
The state decided not to defend the law in court and the proposition's proponents decided to step in. In 2010, a U.S. district court struck down the law, but stayed the decision pending appeal. It was at this stage that the case became more complicated, because it was unclear whether the proponents, who suffered no harm from the proposition being struck down, had the standing to appeal. The specificities of the case gave the Supreme Court five options, as explained by Marty Lederman of SCOTUSblog:
dismissal of the Proposition 8 sponsors’ petition for lack
of appellate standing; reversal on the merits (upholding Proposition 8); and
three different ways of striking down Proposition 8 (a California-only
judgment; a ruling that would guarantee same-sex marriage in the eight states
that already offer all the benefits and other incidents of marriage; and a
sweeping ruling that would provide a constitutional right to same-sex marriage
nationwide).
Ultimately, the Court dismissed the case for lack of standing, meaning the district court decision overturning Prop 8 went into effect by default. This effectively legalised same-sex marriage in California after a four-year hiatus, but allowed the Court to dodge the question of constitutionality.
---
IN-PROGRESS
& UPCOMING: WORLD
In the United Kingdom, a bill to
legalise same-sex marriage in England
and Wales has been approved in the House of Commons. The House of Lords, in
a crucial vote earlier in June, passed
the bill in the second reading. It must still go through a third reading,
and if the bill is amended, it will return to the House of Commons for
approval. So, still some procedural hurdles, but things are looking up. The Scottish government has confirmed its intention
to propose a marriage bill. The marriage question is looking iffier in the
fourth constituent part of the UK, Northern
Ireland, where there is a greater
political opposition to same-sex marriage.
Luxembourg’s parliament is also
expected to approve same-sex marriage this year.
Last year, a same-sex Buddhist couple
married in Taiwan, where a legalization bill has been pending since 2003.
Taipei is also home to Asia's largest annual gay pride parade, according to
organizers.
The Supreme Court of Nepal ruled in
favor of legalization in 2008, but those rights haven't been put into effect
because the country's new constitution has been stuck in limbo for years.
In July, the Justice Ministry in
Vietnam said it would consider a provision for same-sex marriage rights in an
amendment to the country's marriage laws.
---
FINAL
COMMENT: CRIMINALISATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY
I’d like to close out this post with a
statement on the criminal status of homosexuality around the world. The very
fact of living in a country in which same-sex marriage is up for debate is a
privilege. It should be remembered that homosexual activity is illegal in about
seventy-three countries. In about
seven countries, accounting for almost 3% of the world’s population, homosexuality
carries the death penalty.
That does not mean the U.S. gets a
free-pass on equality, or that we should let up on the push for marriage,
adoption, and immigration for LGBT couples, but that does mean we should be
cognisant of the world around us. The United States has come quite a ways in
just a few years. In fact, homosexual sodomy was illegal in 12 states as late
as 2003.
I won’t go any further into this topic,
as I intend to write a detailed blog post about the criminal status of
homosexuality worldwide.
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