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Same-Sex Marriage, Around The World

In Montpellier, France, Vincent Autin (center) and Bruno Boileau, with Mayor Helene Mandroux, are married in a civil ceremony on May 29. They were the first same-sex couple to marry in France after the government voted to legalize gay marriage.
Claude Paris
/
AP
In Montpellier, France, Vincent Autin (center) and Bruno Boileau, with Mayor Helene Mandroux, are married in a civil ceremony on May 29. They were the first same-sex couple to marry in France after the government voted to legalize gay marriage.

Same-sex couples rejoiced in the United States on Wednesday, as the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling struck down as unconstitutional a federal law denying benefits to same-sex couples.

That got us wondering: Where else in the world can same-sex couples get married legally?

Here's a list of countries and the year each legalized gay marriage.

Netherlands – 2001

Belgium – 2003

Spain – 2005

Canada – 2005

South Africa – 2006

Norway – 2008

Sweden – 2009

Portugal – 2010

Iceland – 2010

Argentina – 2010

Denmark – 2012

Brazil – 2013

France – 2013

Additionally, lawmakers in New Zealand approved a bill in April to legalize same-sex marriage. The law is expected to go into effect in August. Lawmakers in Uruguay approved a similar measure in April. That law goes into effect later this year.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Krishnadev Calamur is NPR's deputy Washington editor. In this role, he helps oversee planning of the Washington desk's news coverage. He also edits NPR's Supreme Court coverage. Previously, Calamur was an editor and staff writer at The Atlantic. This is his second stint at NPR, having previously worked on NPR's website from 2008-15. Calamur received an M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri.