Other European countries that have recognized either registered partnerships or gay marriages include Germany, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Portugal, France, Hungary, and Great Britain. Some complications have emerged in the European Union both because not all European countries have adopted these laws and because those who have vary so much from one another. Until 2003, married couples from the Netherlands and Belgium could not travel to other European countries and be recognized as couples. It was also very difficult for citizens of two different European countries to become same-sex spouses. In 2003, however, the EU Parliament established a rule that mandated all EU countries pass laws recognizing the same-sex marriages of citizens in Belgium and the Netherlands, so that people traveling abroad did not lose their marriages or face challenges over the custody of their children. Yet, in a strange twist, there is not yet a rule mandating that the civil partnerships that are maintained by a much larger number of EU countries be recognized abroad. Part of the reason for this is that these laws vary widely. Germany’s registered partnerships, for instance, are much more restrictive than those of Holland or Denmark.

Despite their relative success in Europe, gay unions are still not universally approved of on the continent. A 2003 Gallup poll of the then-15 EU countries showed that roughly 57 percent of the citizens supported gay marriage. Excepting Hungary, all of the European countries with any form of gay partnership laws form a continuous mass on the North half of the continent. While in some countries, such as Belgium, their popular support is wide and deep, in more conservative countries such as Italy and Greece legally recognized same-sex partnerships are still a long ways from realization. One interesting development in more moderate countries has been that civil unions become much more popular after they are enacted. For instance, in 1999 only 49 percent of the French public supported a proposed civil unions law. Two years later, after its enactment in 2000, a full 70 percent supported it. Even many conservative politicians in France now express approval of the law largely because it serves as a defense against the further measure of enacting gay marriage. Jacques Chirac, the center-right French President, has even expressed a desire to expand the rights granted by civil union pacts.

Perhaps part of the reason that the main opposition to these laws has come from Southern Europe is that the Vatican has been the most vocal and consistent opponent of any form of same-sex partnerships and has issued many public statements condemning them, such as one in July 2003 which held that “marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law.” The Church played a surprisingly large role in the public debate over homosexual unions in France, considering the strict secularism enforced by France’s government. It was an even more significant factor in Spain, a country which is 94 percent Catholic.

Before the Socialist Party came to power in 2004, any form of same-sex partnership law in Spain was not within the realm of possibility. But shortly after the election, the incoming Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero declared that the government would pass a bill to put gay unions on the “same footing” as marriage, though semantically they would remain different. A poll published in July 2004 by the Center for Sociological Investigations estimated that 66 percent of Spaniards supported the law. It was approved in October 2004 and is expected to come into force in 2005. This outraged the Spanish Church. Juan Camino, a spokesman for the Spanish Bishops Conference, declared on national television that this law was like “imposing a virus on society.” The animosity between the Church and the liberal government is not unique to this issue. The fight over same-sex partnerships was just one of the many conflicts that have recently arisen between Spain’s liberal government and its socially conservative religious establishment.

North America

In contrast to the majority of European countries, North American gay marriage has been mainly local rather than national and has been initiated by courts rather than legislatures. In Canada, court rulings in eight provinces have established gay marriage in approximately 90 percent of the country. The issue is moving rapidly from provincial to national politics, however, as the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that the government has the power to amend the national marriage law. While the Court did not declare such an amendment mandatory, the government has taken steps to propose it in the House of Commons, where it will likely soon pass. This is a stunning reversal from 1999, when the House of Commons overwhelmingly supported a resolution to define marriage as “the union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.” What accounts for this dramatic shift, especially in the ruling Liberal Party, is most likely the shift in Canadian attitudes towards same-sex marriage in the intervening five years. Public opinion polls consistently show that presently around 50 percent of Canadians support gay marriage, which is far more than supported it even a few years ago. While this indicates at least moderate popular support, the mandate for gay marriage is nowhere near as strong as it is in some European countries. However, polls show that Canadians are becoming more and more open to gay marriage laws. Another unique element in Canada is that it is the only country that lacks a residency requirement for gay marriage, meaning that even non-citizens can marry Canadians of the same gender. This can help couples to meet immigration requirements, which are much less stringent when one marries a citizen.

In the United States as well, the gay marriage debate has primarily been resolved at the state level, and the main impetus for it has come from court decisions. State supreme courts in Hawaii, Vermont, California, and Massachusetts have ruled that the exclusion of gay couples from marriage benefits violates state constitutional guarantees of equal protection. Currently, California and Vermont offer some form of civil unions, and Massachusetts is the only state to allow full gay marriage. In national politics, the issue has obviously attracted a great deal of attention. In 1997, the Defense of Marriage Act was passed, which allowed states to disregard same-sex marriages performed in other states. While attempts to amend the federal constitution have thus far been unsuccessful, 13 states have passed amendments to prevent the expansion of marriage to gay couples, and 39 states have laws against gay marriage. Interestingly, adoption by same-sex couples is allowed in all but a handful of states. This is essentially the opposite of the situation in Europe, where marriage or partnership laws are becoming the norm and gay adoption is still a controversial topic.