A look at over 30 countries, where same sex-marriage is legal; Taiwan is 1st Asian nation to do so

New Delhi: While the five-judge bench of Supreme Court hears a set of petitions demanding legalization or legal recognition to same-sex marriages, here we bring a list of the countries which have already adopted this ‘marriage equality’ between same genders.

The hearing of the contentious issue comes after a batch of about 15 pleas were moved in Apex court and the CJI-led bench referred the matter to larger bench while calling it a ‘very seminal matter’

The five-judge Constitution bench comprises of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, and Justices SK Kaul, Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.

The Centre is opposing the petition while defining marriage as “exclusively heterogenous institution”.

Nations where same-sex marriage is legal

Netherlands (Europe) was the first country in world to give recognition to marriage in the same gender while in Asian continent, Taiwan took the lead in approving it.

Cuba
Andorra
Slovenia
Chile
Switerland
Costa Rica
Austria
Iceland
Ireland
Mexico
South Africa
United States
Colombia
Brazil
Argentina
Luxembourg
Malta
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Canada
Netherlands
New Zealand
Portugal
Uruguay
Taiwan
Ecuador
Belgium
Britain
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany

Out of these nations, 23 nations chose to enact a law to facilitate marriage between people of same gender while in 10 nations, this became a reality via court judgement. Taiwan, the first Asian country to adopt this practice, also got a go-ahead following court judgement. South Africa is another nation where lawmakers legislated a law to this effect, after court order.