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38 Fam. Advoc. 37 (2015-2016)
Marriage Equality in Europe

handle is hein.journals/famadv38 and id is 187 raw text is: EQ UA LITI I As of December 2015, 13 of the 19 countries (at this writing) that have legalized same-sex marriage across the globe are in Europe. In fact, almost all states in Western Europe now recognize same-sex unions in the same way as heterosexual ones, but notably, two of the largest-Germany and Italy-are not among them. All Central and Eastern European countries continue to ban gay marriage. Thus, the two halves of Europe, to some extent, have been travelling in opposite directions. The Netherlands paved the way for the legalization of same-sex marriages. The first such marriage was performed at Amsterdam city hall on April 1, 2001. Since then, countries across Europe, including Belgium (2003), Spain (2005), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), France (2013), the United Kingdom (2014), and Greece (2015), have followed suit. Civil partnerships, which grant legal recognition of relationships but fall short of marriage, are recognized in all EU states except Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Slovakia. A significant divide in the approach to marriage equality has arisen among the core members of the European Union (EU) and those that joined in the big bang enlargement on May 1, 2004, symbolizing the unification of Eastern and Western Europe. Many jurisdictions in Central and Eastern Europe have become increasingly nationalistic and conservative. Poland and Hungary (as well as most other jurisdictions in the former communist bloc) now have constitutional protections that define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. These anti-equality provisions essentially mirror the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was enacted in the United States in 1996. Northern Ireland is the only jurisdiction in the United Kingdom where gay marriage is not legal. While the majority of members in the Northern Ireland Assembly have voted in favour of gay marriage, it has been blocked because of a lack of cross- community support. The position in Northern Ireland stands in stark contrast to that of the Republic of Ireland, which in May 2015 became the first country to legalize same-sex marriage through a popular referendum. Sixty-two percent of Irish voters supported amending the Constitution of Ireland to provide 16 37

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