Same sex marriges

Subscriber Account active since. People fighting for same-sex marriage rights around the world have seen global support increase in recent years. Australia, Malta, and Germany legalized same-sex marriage in , and Taiwan made history in , becoming the first government in Asia to welcome legislation on marriage equality. Costa Rica became the first Central American country to legalize same-sex marriage on May 26, Source: CBS News.

In the United States, the availability of legally-recognized same-sex marriage expanded from one state in to all fifty states in through various state and federal court rulings, state legislation, and direct popular votes. The fifty states each have separate marriage laws , which must adhere to rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States that recognize marriage as a fundamental right that is guaranteed by both the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , as first established in the landmark civil rights case of Loving v. Civil rights campaigning in support of marriage without distinction as to sex or sexual orientation began in the s. Nelson saw the Supreme Court of the United States decline to become involved. Lewin that it was unconstitutional under the Constitution of Hawaii for the state to abridge marriage on the basis of sex. That ruling led to federal and state actions to explicitly abridge marriage on the basis of sex in order to prevent the marriages of same-sex couples from being recognized by law, the most prominent of which was the federal Defense of Marriage Act DOMA.

Same-sex marriage has been legalized in twenty-eight countries, including the United States, and civil unions are recognized in many Western democracies. Civil Society. Javier Corrales, a professor at Amherst College who focuses on LGBT rights in Latin America, points to income levels and the influence of religion in politics, as well as the overall strength of democracy, to explain regional divergences [PDF].

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds. Photos: Same-sex marriage in the U. Carlos McKnight of Washington waves a flag in support of same-sex marriage outside the U. Supreme Court on June 26,