Same-sex marriage legalized in Spain, Canada in 2005

Published: 2005-12-09

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Spain and Canada legalized same-sex marriages in 2005, while campaigns for or against it in the United States met with mixed success. Massachusetts -- which adopted same-sex marriage legislation in 2004 under orders from the state Supreme Judicial Court -- remained the only U.S. state in which two people of the same sex can legally enter a marriage. In December the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that gay and lesbian couples have a right to marry and gave Parliament one year to rework the nation's laws. If Parliament does not do so, the court said, the words "or spouse" will automatically be inserted after "husband" or "wife" wherever either term currently appears in the country's laws dealing with marriage. Also in December, Great Britain began implementing same-sex civil partnership legislation adopted in 2004. Gay and lesbian couples began registering Dec. 5 for such partnerships, which bring some but not all the civil benefits of marriage. At least 13 other European countries currently have some form of civil union or domestic partnership laws. In Connecticut the Legislature approved same-sex civil unions, giving such couples all the rights of marriage except the right to call it a marriage. The Connecticut Catholic Conference sharply criticized the law, saying it simply legalized "same-sex marriage by a different name."

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