Legality Of Same-Sex Marriages

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epted, both in statute and in society; and
marital failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be
grounds for a divorce. Societal change have been felt in marriages
over the past 25 years as divorce rates have increased and have been
integrated into even upper class families. Proposals to legalize
same-sex marriage or to enact broad domestic partnership laws are
currently being promoted by gay and lesbian activists, especially in
Europe and North America. The trend in western European nations during
the past decade has been to increase legal aid to homosexual relations
and has included marriage benefits to some same-sex couples. For
example, within the past six years, three Scandinavian countries have
enacted domestic partnership laws allowing same-sex couples in which
at least one partner is a citizen of the specified country therefore
allowing many benefits that heterosexual marriages are given. In the
Netherlands, the Parliament is considering domestic partnership status
for same-sex couples, all major political parties favor recognizing
same-sex relations, and more than a dozen towns have already done so.
Finland provides governmental social benefits to same-sex partners.
Belgium allows gay prisoners the right to have conjugal visits from
same-sex partners. An overwhelming majority of European nations have
granted partial legal status to homosexual relationships. The European
Parliament also has passed a resolution calling for equal rights for
gays and lesbians.

In the United States, efforts to legalize same-sex domestic
partnership have had some, limited success. The Lambda Legal Defense
and Education Fund, Inc. reported that by mid-1995, thirty-six
municipalities, eight counties, three states, five state agencies, and
two federal agencies extended some benefits to, or registered for some
official purposes, same-sex domestic partnerships. In 1994, the
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