The Supreme Court of India today delivered its judgement on pleas seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage. The court did not legalise marriage equality, but it emphasised that an individual's ability to engage in a union cannot be denied based on sexual orientation. The five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narishma came up with four judgments, differing primarily on the question of adoption rights for queer couples.
Twenty-three countries across the globe have legalised same-sex marriage after nationwide voting while 10 countries have legalised it through court decisions.
Here is a list of more than 30 countries where marriage equality exists:
- Netherlands: 2001
- Belgium: 2003
- Canada: 2005
- Spain: 2005
- South Africa: 2006
- Norway: 2009
- Sweden: 2009
- Iceland: 2010
- Portugal: 2010
- Argentina: 2010
- Denmark: 2012
- Uruguay: 2013
- New Zealand: 2013
- France: 2013
- Brazil: 2013
- England and Wales: 2014
- Scotland: 2014
- Luxembourg: 2015
- Ireland: 2015
- United States: 2015
- Greenland: 2016
- Colombia: 2016
- Finland: 2017
- Germany: 2017
- Malta: 2017
- Australia: 2017
- Austria: 2019
- Taiwan: 2019
- Ecuador: 2019
- Ireland: 2020
- Costa Rica: 2020
- Switzerland: 2022
- Mexico: 2022
- Chile: 2022
- Slovenia: 2022
- Cuba: 2022
- Andorra: 2023
- Estonia: 2024
The data was sourced from the Human Rights Campaign's report titled "Marriage Equality Around the World." According to the organisation, debates on marriage equality are also going on in the Czech Republic, Japan, Philippines and Thailand.
