April 30th, 2013
In the map above, the dark green nations offer marriage equality. The light green nations are either those which offer civil unions or some variation of partner recognition or those in which some but not all portions of the nation offer marriage or civil unions.
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Steve
May 1st, 2013
Finally a more accurate map. Australia often forgotten in these lists. But it recognizes de facto relationships and gay couples there have almost the same rights as straights ones, including stuff Americans can only dream off like health insurance, pensions, social security and immigration.
It also gets Greenland right, which only recognizes the older domestic partnerships.
The Baltic Sea shouldn’t be white though :p
Timothy Kincaid
May 1st, 2013
Thanks, Steve. I missed that. My apologies to the Baltic Sea… but it got better treatment than the Arul Sea, which doesn’t even show up on the map.
dave
May 1st, 2013
The eastern islands of Denmark shouldn’t be white, either, especially since one of them contains Copenhagen.
Steve
May 1st, 2013
Two other tiny nitpicks:
French Guyana is South America belongs to France.
And South Africa has somehow annexed Lesotho
Timothy Kincaid
May 1st, 2013
Thanks, I completely forgot French Guiana.
As for the map defects… I plead the limitations of free maps.
Alex
May 1st, 2013
Why isn’t Mexico light green? Mexico City and the state of Quintana Roo have full same-sex marriage.
Andrew
May 1st, 2013
alex, you got there first… was going to say the same thing…
Andrew
May 1st, 2013
hey, folks – we can probably do our own map if anyone has Microsoft Visio. Bet we could do it *better*…
Timothy Kincaid
May 1st, 2013
Alex, sorry. It was light green before but I redid the thing entirely and missed it in the update. It will be light green later tonight when I get back to a wifi connection
Neil
May 1st, 2013
I’m dubious of Australia’s inclusion there. The 2004 amendment to the Marriage Act by the Howard government not only insists on opposite sex exclusivity for marriage but prohibits any form on union that is marriage like.
This lead to the federal government quashing an attempt to enact civil union legislation for same-sex couples in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Any subsequent effort to offer recognition to same-sex couples has had to be carefully watered down so that it is more of a relationship registration, not much different in effect from registering your share-house partnership or partnership as a carer living with a disabled relative.
The ACT crept forward with its Civil Partnership legislation to include a ceremony. This puts it back in contention with federal legislation. At present, the current Labor government, governing in minority with support from Greens and independents, has tolerated this. The next government is likely to be conservative and will be under pressure to rescind it.
Under current rules for the issuing of celebrant licenses, a registered celebrant is not permitted to conduct legally binding commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples.
If Australia has a colour on that map, it’s a very pale green.
iDavid
May 2nd, 2013
Timothy,
I really like this map. It gives me a chance to see that half the world is in or has transitioned on this issue with the other half still to go. Good job.
iDavid
May 2nd, 2013
Andrew,
I find you last comment counter-productive to the cause that most are fighting for.
Merv
May 2nd, 2013
Regarding the Aral Sea, it shouldn’t be showing up on the map, because it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s all dried up except for a few small remnant lakes.
Steve
May 2nd, 2013
@Neil
Gay Australians have rights Americans can only dream of because same-sex de facto relationships have all the same federal rights as straight ones. You just live together as one economical unit for a few years and you get many federal benefits. It’s like common law marriage.
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