This article contains a timeline of significant events regarding same-sex marriage and legal recognition of same-sex couples worldwide. It begins with the history of same-sex unions during ancient times, which consisted of unions ranging from informal and temporary relationships to highly ritualized unions, and continues to modern-day state-recognized same-sex marriage. Events concerning same-sex marriages becoming legal in a country or in a country's state are listed in bold.

Summary The summary table below lists in chronological order the sovereign states (United Nations member states plus Taiwan) that have legalized same-sex marriage. As of June 2026, 39 states have legalized same sex marriage.

Dates are when marriages between same-sex couples began to be officially certified. When distinguished, the initial date is the date of legalization in the first subnational jurisdiction (state, province or constituent country), and the second is the completion date for all jurisdictions, not counting external territories (or in the case of the US, sovereign tribal nations). A dash indicates that same-sex marriage is not (yet) legal in all jurisdictions. This is the case for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, where the constituent country Sint Maarten has not yet legalized, and for the Realm of New Zealand, where the constituent countries of Niue and the Cook Islands have not legalized.

Member state First jurisdiction National ruling orfinal jurisdiction * * * *

* State controls one or more territories where same-sex marriage is not performed or not recognized.

Ancient history

Various types of same-sex marriages have existed, ranging from informal, unsanctioned relationships to highly ritualized unions.

Cicero mentions the marriage (using the Latin verb for "to marry", i.e. nubere) of the son of Curio the Elder, but he does it in a metaphorical form to criticize his enemy Antonius. Cicero states thus that the younger Curio was "united in a stable and permanent marriage" to Antonius.Cicero Philippic 18 February, 2.45 See old translation at: http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0021&layout=&loc=18 February, 2.45 Martial also mentions a number of same-sex marriages, but always in derisory terms against people whom he wants to mock.Martial 12.42, 1.35, 3.93, 12.95. Old Translations of passages at: http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book12.htm http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book01.htm http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/martial_epigrams_book03.htm

At least two of the Roman Emperors were in same-sex unions; and in fact, thirteen out of the first fourteen Roman Emperors held to be bisexual or exclusively homosexual.Hinsch, Bret. (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve. University of California Press. pp. 35–36. The first Roman emperor to have married a man was Nero, who is reported to have married two other men on different occasions. First with one of his freedmen, Pythagoras, to whom Nero took the role of the bride, and later as a groom Nero married a young boy, who resembled one of his concubines,Nero missed her so greatly after her death that on learning of a woman who resembled her he at first sent for her and kept her; but later he caused a boy of the freedmen, whom he used to call Sporus,..."he formally "married" Sporus, and assigned the boy a regular dowry according to contract;" q.v., Suetonius Nero 28; Dio Cassius Epitome 62.28 Old Translation of passage at: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/62*.html named Sporus.

Adolescent emperor Elagabalus referred to his chariot driver, a blond slave from Caria named Hierocles, as his husband. He also married an athlete named Zoticus in a lavish public ceremony in Rome amidst the rejoicings of the citizens.Dio Cassius Epitome 80.5, 80.14, 80.15, 80.16; Herodian Roman History 5.6.1–5.6.2

Old Translation of passage at: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/80*.html http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/herodian_05_book5.htm In the Far East, same-sex marriage was recorded as normal and accepted by society in many of the native cultures of the Asia-Pacific region, such as Philippines.George Bryan Souza. The Boxer Codex: Transcription and Translation of an Illustrated Late Sixteenth-Century Spanish Manuscript Concerning the Geography, History and ... (European Expansion and Indigenous Response) Annotated Edition. Brill; Annotated edition (20 November 2015)

The Siwa Oasis in Egypt had a historical acceptance of male homosexuality and even rituals of same-sex marriage—traditions that Egyptian authorities have sought to repress, with increasing success, since the early 20th century. The German egyptologist George Steindorff explored the oasis in 1900 and reported that homosexual relations were common and often extended to a form of marriage.

Post-classical history 1590: The Boxer Codex records same-sex marriage as a normal occurrence in the Philippines for the indigenous population. 1781: Jens Andersson of Norway, assigned female at birth, but identifying as male, was imprisoned and put on trial after marrying Anne Kristine Mortensdotter in a Lutheran church. When asked about their gender, the response was "" ("He believes he belongs to both"). 1834: Anne Lister, dubbed "the first modern lesbian", married Ann Walker (landowner) at Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate, York.

1900s

1901 Two women named Marcela Gracia and Elisa Sánchez are able to get legally married in A Coruña, Spain. To achieve it, Elisa adopted a male identity under the name Mario Sánchez to marry Marcela and thus they were able to fool the authorities. The truth eventually broke out and their case appeared in many newspapers throughout Europe, so they had to escape to the Americas to avoid being arrested.

1929 Following the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Soviet Union, a conference on sexual and gender diversity organised by the People's Commissariat for Health adopts a resolution calling for same-sex marriage to be officially recognised with a requirement for approval from a psychiatrist. The resolution was not adopted into law and homosexuality was re-criminalised by the Soviet Union in 1933 under Joseph Stalin.

1960s 1963 Swedish lesbian activist Vivi Astroy and her partner Märta organize a symbolic wedding ceremony with around 50 guests in one of the banquet halls of the Källaren Drufvan restaurant, in Stockholm. A gay friend of theirs officiated the wedding.Rydström, J. (2011). The road to registered partnership. In Odd Couples: A History of Gay Marriage in Scandinavia (pp. 39). Amsterdam University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wp6dm.5

1967

After living with each other for some years, a gay Brazilian couple from Cametá decided to formalize their union in a traditional religious ceremony. As same-sex marriage was illegal, one of them disguised as a woman, and with civil and ecclesiastical authorities unaware that they were two men, allowed the marriage. However, upon realizing it, they arrested the couple and church authorities ordered the annulment of the marriage.

1970s 1970

18 May: Gay activists Jack Baker and Michael McConnell from the United States apply for a marriage license in Hennepin County, Minnesota, but are denied one by a clerk."Minnesota Statutes Annotated", West Publishing Co. (1970) Chapter 517.01: Marriage a civil contract. "Marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned, is a civil contract, to which the consent of the parties, capable in law of contracting, is essential." Chapter 517.03: Marriages prohibited. [The list does not include parties of the same gender.] Blue Earth County issues them a license in August 1971. Eventually, Assistant Chief Judge Gregory Anderson declares that marriage "to be in all respects valid", which made it the earliest legal same sex marriage "recorded"William N. Eskridg Jr. and Christopher R. Riano, "Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws", Yale University Press (2020), Chapter 24. in the public files of any civil government.

1971 15 October: The Minnesota Supreme Court rules in Baker v. Nelson that the refusal by the clerk in Hennepin County to issue a marriage license to Jack Baker and Michael McConnell in 1970 did not violate the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court accepts their appeal but dismisses the action in 1972.The U.S. Supreme Court was required to accept an appeal of the court's "opinion" as a matter of right, a practice that the Supreme Court Case Selections Act ended in 1988.Sources: Michael McConnell Files, "America's First Gay Marriage" (binder #3), Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies, U of M Libraries. October Term, 1972: "Appellee's Motion to Dismiss Appeal and Brief" by George M. Scott, County Attorney page 7: "Questions Raised by This Appeal Are Moot". Neither decision invalidates the license issued in Blue Earth County.

1973 1 January: Maryland becomes the first state in the U.S. to statutorily ban same-sex marriage. In the following two decades, other states joined Maryland in statutorily banning same-sex marriage, reaching almost the totality of US states by 1994.

1974 20 May: Singer v. Hara, a lawsuit filed by John F. Singer and Paul Barwick after being refused a request for a marriage license at the King County Administration Building in Seattle, Washington on 20 September 1971, ends with a unanimous rejection by the Washington State Court of Appeals.

1975 April: Boulder County clerk Clela Rorex issued five same-sex marriage licenses. Boulder District Attorney deferred the licenses, which became void. The matter never reached the courts, and the six marriages were never invalidated.

1979 June: The Netherlands adopts an "unregistered cohabitation" scheme as a civil status in rent law, becoming the first country in the world where same-sex couples could apply for limited rights.

1980s

1984 4 December: The Berkeley City Council passes a domestic partnership policy to offer insurance benefits to city employees in same-sex relationships, which made Berkeley the first city in the U.S. to do so.

1985 25 March: West Hollywood becomes the first US city to enact a domestic partnership registry open to all its citizens.

1989 27 August: Andrew Sullivan writes the first major article in the United States advocating for gay people to be given the right to marry, published in The New Republic. 1 October: Denmark becomes the first country in the world to legally recognise same-sex unions, after Margrethe II of Denmark gave royal assent to a bill legalising "registered partnerships" in a 71–47 vote.

1990s

1993

30 April: Norway approves a registered partnerships bill, becoming the second country in the world (after Denmark) to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. It came into effect on 1 August. 5 May: The Supreme Court of the U.S. state of Hawaii rules in Baehr v. Lewin that the state's law limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is presumed to be unconstitutional unless the state can present a "compelling interest" justifying the same-sex marriage ban.

1994

23 June: The Parliament of Sweden approves a registered partnerships bill in a 171–141 vote. It became legal on 1 January 1995.

1995

12 March: One recorded case of a legally valid same-sex civil marriage contraction in Cambodia: Khav Sokha and Pum Eth were married in the village of Kro Bao Ach Kok, in Kandal Province

1996

26 April: Greenland adopts Denmark's registered partnership law. 4 June: The Parliament of Iceland legalizes registered partnerships in a 44–1 vote. 21 September: As a direct result of the Baehr v. Lewin ruling of 1993, President Bill Clinton of the United States signs the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) into law, which banned the federal Government from recognizing same-sex unions.