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Gay marriage is marriage in which both participants are of the same gender. Gay marriages are currently only allowed in the Netherlands. A small but increasing number of jurisdictions recognize gay civil unions or "registered partnerships", which provide much of the same rights and responsibilites as marriage but use a different name for the arrangement. Examples are Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland the United States state of Vermont. Many more areas in the world (usually local municipalites and counties) allow domestic partnerships that have varying degrees of privileges and responsibilities, usually far fewer than those found in civil unions.

Netherlands

A "registered partnership" system was introduced in the Netherlands in the 1990s. However a subsequent court case brought about by a gay couple resulted in a conclusion that restricting marriage to partners of mixed sex was in violation of the constitution, which forbids discrimination against homosexuals. Hence the marriage law was changed and since 1 April 2001 homosexual marriages have been permitted.

There was strong opposition from fundamentalist religious groups to the introduction of gay marriage, e.g., see Khalil el-Moumni. Individual churches have retained the right to decide whether or not to conduct such ceremonies: in practice many have been willing to do so. While regional government offices are obliged to perform civil gay marriages, some uncertainty has remained about whether individual officials have the right to refuse to perform them.

According to provisional figures from the Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics, for the first six months gay marriages made up 3.6 percent of the total number of marriages: a peak of around 6 percent in the first month followed by around 3 percent in the remaining months: about 2100 men and 1700 women in total.

Denmark

Gay marriages were introduced in Denmark by law of June 7, 1989. It has the form of a registered partnership (Danish: "registreret partnerskab"), but is a marriage in almost every sense. All legal and fiscal rights and obligations are as for a heterosexual marriage, with four exceptions:

• registered partners cannot adopt, with the exception that one party can adopt the biological children of the other
• registered partners cannot have joint custody of a child, except by adoption
• laws making explicit reference to the sexes of a married couple don't apply to registered partnerships
• regulations by international treaties do not apply unless all signatories agree.

Registered partnership is by civil ceremony only. The Danish state church has yet to decide how to handle the issue, but the general attitude of the church seems positive but hesitant. Some priests perform blessings of gay couples, and this is accepted by the church, which states that the church blesses people, not institutions.

Divorce for registered partners follow the same rules as ordinary divorces.

Only citizens of Denmark, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland can enter a registered partnership in Denmark. This list is adjusted whenever a new country introduces gay marriage. This rule excludes foreigners from entering gay marriages that won't be legally valid in their home country.

As of January 1, 2002 there were more than 2000 registered partnerships in Denmark, of which 220 had children.