Lawmakers in Germany voted on Friday to allow same-sex marriage after a brisk but emotional debate in Parliament, setting the stage for the country to join more than a dozen European nations including Ireland, France and Spain in legalizing such unions.
Teen suicide attempts in the U.S. declined after same-sex marriage became legal and the biggest impact was among gay, lesbian and bisexual kids, a study found.
In total, 1,201,607 people voted in favor with 734,300 against, giving a majority of 467,307. The total valid poll was 1,935,907. Roscommon-South Leitrim was the only county to reject same-sex marriage.
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that it was unconstitutional under the Massachusetts Constitution to allow only opposite-sex couples to marry.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Belgium since 1 June 2003, making it the second country in the world to open marriage to same-sex couples, after the Netherlands, and 9 days ahead of the Canadian province of Ontario. Legislation to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples was passed by both chambers of the Federal Parliament in November 2002 and January 2003 with the support of most political parties, and received royal assent on 13 February 2003.
No country recognized marriage between two people of the same sex prior to the 21st century, but a law to legalize marriage equality passed the Dutch legislature in 2000 and went into effect several months later.
