Legal recognition of same-sex couples
Same-sex marriage
Belgium Canada Netherlands Norway South Africa Spain Sweden
Performed in some jurisdictions
Mexico: DF United States: CT, DC, IA, MA, NH, VT, Coquille
Recognized, not performed
Aruba (Dutch only) Israel Netherlands Antilles (Dutch only) United States: CA (conditional), MD, NY, RI
Civil unions and registered partnerships
Andorra Austria Colombia Czech Republic Denmark Ecuador Finland France Germany Greenland Hungary Iceland Luxembourg New Caledonia New Zealand Slovenia Switzerland Wallis and Futuna United Kingdom Uruguay
Performed in some jurisdictions
Argentina: BA, RC, RN, VCP Australia: ACT, TAS, VIC Mexico: COA United States: CA, CO, HI, ME, NJ, NV, OR, WA, WI Venezuela: ME Recognized, not performed Isle of Man (UK only)
Unregistered co-habitation
Argentina Australia Brazil Croatia Israel Portugal
In some regions
United States: MD, RI
Jurisdictions with current or recent debates on SSUs
Albania Bolivia Bulgaria Burundi Cambodia Chile China (PRC) ROC (Taiwan) Congo (DRC) Costa Rica Cuba Cyprus Dominican Republic El Salvador Estonia Europe Faroe Islands Greece Honduras India Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Kosovo Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Malta Moldova Montenegro Nepal Netherlands Antilles Nigeria Panama Paraguay Philippines Poland Romania Russia Serbia Slovakia Singapore South Korea Uganda Ukraine Venezuela Vietnam Zambia United States: AL, AS, AZ, DE, FL, GU, IL, LA, MI, MN, MT, NM, NC, OH, PA, PR, SC, UT, WV, WY, Native Americans
See also
Same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage legislation Timeline of same-sex marriage Civil union Domestic partnership Registered partnership Civil partnership Listings by country
LGBT portal
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Registered partnership is one of several terms synonymous with a civil union or civil partnership similar to marriage, typically created in order to provide same-sex couples the legal and social benefits of traditional marriage and thus could be described as quasi marriages. The term is used in the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Austria, Solvenia and Switzerland. The same concept under slight different terminology can also be found in Germany, Hungary and the United Kingdom. Denmark was the first country in the world to offer registered partnerships to same-sex couples, beginning on June 7, 1989. The first union created under this new law took place on October 1, 1989 between Axel and Eigil Axgil.

In Finland, law on registered partnership came into force on 1 March 2002, having been approved by the Parliament in September 2001.

Registered partnerships in these countries are nearly equal to marriage. The Scandinavian registered partnership laws are short, and basically state that, wherever the word "marriage" or "spouse" appears in the country's laws, it will also be construed to mean "registered partnership" or "registered partner", respectively; however, certain rights of adoption (i.e., of foreign-born adoptees) and of a church ceremony are sometimes restricted under registered partnerships. Same-sex couples were given equal rights of joint adoption in Sweden in 2005, UK, Belgium and Iceland in 2006, Denmark, Norway, and Germany^[1] in 2009.

The main argument against registered partnership is that it creates a situation of separate but equal, called "marriage apartheid" or "re-introducing Jim Crow laws" by some. Others claim that these partnerships allow same-sex marriage by another name (e.g. "nearly equality without equality" or "all-but-marriage").

Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden allow both same-sex marriage and full joint adoption. While nearly all Scandinavian countries allow full joint adoption, Finland is the only Scandinavian country which does not allow fully joint adoption, however Finland does allow same-sex couples to adopt the biological child of their own only.

In other places, registered partnerships have been instituted by municipalities in recognition of same-sex relationships. These partnerships are often merely nominal, conferring few actual benefits or obligations.

[edit] Sources

[edit] See also

• Registered Partnership Act
• Domestic partnership
• Civil union
• Same-sex marriage

[edit] External links

• [1] website of L.E.M.U.R.: European Laboratory on Marriage and Registred Partnership
• Stonewall.org.uk - Countries that recognise or proposed to recognise same-sex relationships
• Recent book by Darren Spedale and William Eskridge, Jr. on the Scandinavian Registered Partnership laws
• Recent article by Darren Spedale, William Eskridge, Jr. and Hans Ytterberg on the effect of the Registered Partnership Laws on society
• Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples, list of municipalities in the United States and some other countries where same-sex couples can register