^abNeither performed nor recognized insome tribal nations of the US. Recognized but not performed in several other tribal nations andAmerican Samoa.
^Registered foreign marriages confer all marriage rights in Israel. Domestic common-law marriages confer most rights of marriage. Domestic civil marriage recognized by some cities.
^A "declaration of family relationship" is available in several of Cambodia's communes which may be useful in matters such as housing, but is not legally binding.
^Guardianship agreements confer some limited legal benefits in China, including decisions about medical and personal care.
^Hong Kong provides inheritance, guardianship rights, and residency rights for foreign spouses of legal residents.
Same-sex marriage has been legal inLiechtenstein since 1 January 2025.[1][2] In November 2022, theLandtag passed a motion calling on the government to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, with broad support from across the political spectrum. A bill legalizing same-sex marriage was introduced in February 2024 and passed its final reading in the Landtag on 16 May 2024 by a 24–1 vote.[3] It receivedroyal assent from PrinceAlois on 9 July 2024 and took effect on 1 January.[4][5][6] Polling suggests that a majority ofLiechtensteiners support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.[7] Liechtenstein was the thirdEuropean microstate, the 22nd country inEurope and the37th in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
Liechtenstein also recognized same-sexregistered partnerships from 1 September 2011, following approval by voters in areferendum. It was the second country in the world to pass a partnership law by referendum, afterSwitzerland in 2005. Since the introduction of same-sex marriage on 1 January 2025, registered partnerships are no longer available in Liechtenstein.
On 19 November 2001, MPPaul Vogt from theFree List submitted aregistered partnership initiative to theLandtag of Liechtenstein, which after a long discussion referred it to thecabinet for its opinion. The goal of reducingdiscrimination was undisputed; rather the kind of recognition and the timing compared to neighbouring countries were cause for discussion. On 15 April 2003, the cabinet published its position on the matter; it compared the legal situation in Liechtenstein toEuropean countries with recognition of same-sex couples (e.g.Germany had recently introducedregistered life partnerships), but also with neighbouringAustria andSwitzerland, which had no legal recognition of same-sex couples at the time. As the cabinet saw no urgent need and preferred to await developments in Austria and especially Switzerland, it recommended rejection.[8] On 14 May 2003, the Landtag rejected the initiative.[9]
On 17 September 2007,Amnesty International submitted a petition calling for the legal recognition of same-sex couples. A subsequent motion put forward in the Landtag by the Free List requesting that the cabinet introduce a registered partnership lawsimilar to Switzerland's passed on 24 October 2007 with 19 representatives voting in favour and 6 voting against.[10][11]
In December 2009,Justice MinisterAurelia Frick announced she would finalise a draft of the registered partnership bill by January 2010.[13][14] The draft was presented in April 2010.[15][16][17] After the consultation period for the bill finished on 16 July, a few items were amended as a result of the discussion. The bill was described as very similar to theAustrian law passed in autumn 2009.[18] In August 2010,PrinceAlois declared his support for the proposal.[19] On 23 November 2010, the cabinet formulated the final version of the bill,[20][21] which was approved by Parliament in itsfirst reading on 16 December 2010.[22] It passed its second reading on 16 March 2011 in a 21–0 vote, and was published on 21 March as theRegistered Partnership Act (German:Partnerschaftsgesetz).[23][24]
According to a report approved by the government in October 2022, the partnership law used "gender-equitable formulations" in its general clauses and legal definitions, implying that both same-sex and opposite-sex couples could enter into registered partnerships under the law.[27] Registered partnerships were closed to new couples from 1 January 2025. Existing couples were entitled to retain their status as registered partners or convert their unions into recognized marriages.
A group calledVox Populi ("Voice of the People") announced its intention to force areferendum on the new law.[28][29] According to theConstitution of Liechtenstein, the organization had until 21 April (30 days)[30] to collect at least 1,000 signatures.[31] As the necessary signatures were gathered (1,208 valid signatures), a referendum was held between 17 and 19 June 2011.[32][33] The registered partnership law was approved by 68.8 percent of those who voted and thus went into effect on 1 September 2011.[34][35]
Bymunicipality, the "Yes" vote received its largest support inPlanken (at 73.4%), followed bySchaan (73.0%) andRuggell (72.4%), whereas the highest "No" vote was recorded inEschen (40.8%).[36]
In 2016, the cabinet reformed family name law. Registered partners were granted the possibility to have a common family name; however, it was simply called "name" as opposed to "family name" for married couples, thus keeping a distinction. The reform was discussed in the Landtag on 4 March 2016 at first reading, and was approved in its second and final reading on 31 August 2016 by a vote of 25–0.[37][38][39][40] It was published in the official gazette on 3 November 2016 and took effect on 1 January 2017.[41][42][43]
On 15 June 2021, the State Court of Liechtenstein (Staatsgerichtshof) ruled that same-sex couples should have the right toadopt, and struck down the sections of the 2011 partnership law which had forbidden adoption by registered partners. It gave Parliament one year to rectify the issue.[44] Following the court decision, the government drafted a bill granting same-sex couples the right to adopt their stepchildren (i.e.stepchild adoption), which was passed on 6 May 2022. On that same day, Parliament narrowly rejected an amendment that would have explicitly banned joint adoption and excluded same-sex couples from accessingassisted reproductive technology.[45][46]
After a consultation period lasting from 6 July to 30 September 2022, the government passed a motion for full adoption equality on 31 October 2022.[47][48][27][49] The proposal passed its first reading in the Landtag on 2 December by a 22 to 3 vote.[50][51][52] It was approved in its final reading on 2 March,[53][54] and went into effect on 1 June 2023.[55][56][57]
11 registered partnerships were performed in the first two years following the entry into force of the new law, eight between two men and three between two women.[58] This made up 2.7% of all unions performed those two years. The number of registered partnerships performed in Liechtenstein per year is shown in the table below. The data is collected by the Office of Statistics (Amt für Statistik).[59][60][61][62][63]
Number of partnerships registered in Liechtenstein
In 2018, a same-sex couple, Lukas Oehri and Dario Kleeb, were denied amarriage license at the Civil Registry Office inVaduz. They filed suit in court, arguing that the same-sex marriage ban was a violation of theEuropean Convention on Human Rights and theConstitution of Liechtenstein. The Administrative Court (VGH,Verwaltungsgerichtshof) ruled in the couple's favour, but the judgement was overturned onappeal by the State Court (StGH,Staatsgerichtshof) in September 2019. The StGH ruled, in case 2018/154, that banning same-sex marriage was not unconstitutional. However, the court concluded that several provisions of the 2011 partnership law were discriminatory, notably its provisions prohibiting registered partners from adopting.[65] In response, the government announced it would evaluate the issue after "careful discussion". Eventually, legislation permitting same-sex registered partners to adopt went into effect in June 2023.
Following theSwiss National Council's vote to legalize same-sex marriage on 11 June 2020, Amos Kaufmann from the LGBT group Flay expressed his hope that Liechtenstein would soon follow suit. TheLiechtensteiner Vaterland newspaper wrote that the issue might "soon be on the political arena".[66][67] Minister of Social AffairsMauro Pedrazzini said he expected discussion on the issue to become quite present in the lead up to theFebruary 2021 parliamentary election. A spokesman for thePariotic Union (VU) said the party had "more pressing issues", but said they would follow the developments in Switzerland and take a formal decision later on. FBP party president Marcus Vogt said the party was still debating whether to take an official stance in support of same-sex marriage.[68] In an interview with Radio Liechtenstein in February 2021, PrinceHans-Adam II expressed his support for same-sex marriage but said he opposed allowing same-sex couples to adopt.[69][70] During the February 2021 election campaign, over 80% of candidates for theLandtag said they supported legalising same-sex marriage.[71] Following the election, theLiechtensteiner Vaterland reported that there was a "solid majority" in the Landtag to legalise same-sex marriage.[72] On 24 March 2021, the VU and the FBP signed a coalition agreement, with the government programme including the promise that "legal certainty for non-traditional family models will be improved".[73]
A survey conducted by the youth wing of theFree List party, leading up to the 2021 general election, showed that the vast majority of elected representatives supported same-sex marriage, with the Free List, the FBP, and a large majority of the VU in support. The 2 members of the minorDemocrats for Liechtenstein party did not respond to the survey. 10 lawmakers were regarded as a "solid yes" vote,[b] 9 as a "likely yes" vote,[c] 3 as a "likely no" vote,[d] and 1 as a "solid no" vote.[e] A majority of the 10 elected substitute members (who serve as substitute representatives in the event that anMP cannot attend a parliamentary session) also supported same-sex marriage.[74] On 29 September 2021, the Landtag held a debate in which the majority of political parties broadly agreed that same-sex marriage should be legalized. It called for apublic consultation process before legislating on the issue.[75] On 11 August 2022, Prince Alois said that same-sex marriage was "not a major problem".[76] On 21 September 2022, a motion calling on the government to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage was submitted to the Landtag by 15 out of the 25 sitting members.[f][77][78][79] The motion was discussed in the plenary session on 2 November 2022, and was passed by a 23–2 vote.[80][81][82]
On 11 July 2023, the government approved a consultation report regarding proposed changes to three existing laws as part of the motion's implementation: theMarriage Act, thePartnership Act, and thePersonal and Company Act. The consultation period ended on 10 October 2023.[84][85][86] In August 2023, Prime MinisterDaniel Risch said that the legalization of same-sex marriage "should be coming very soon".[87] On 6 February 2024, the government published the results of the consultation report and introduced a bill amending the three aforementioned laws to the Landtag. Under the proposal, no new registered partnerships would be established in Liechtenstein, although existing ones would continue to be recognised and could be converted into marriage via a simple procedure.[88][89][90] The bill passed its first reading on 8 March 2024 with 24 votes in favor and one against.[91][92][93][94]
A final vote on the legislation took place on 16 May,[97][98] where it passed 24–1.[99] Before the vote, parties agreed that the bill would not be amended and that no referendum would be initiated by the Landtag.[100] The legislation receivedroyal assent from Prince Alois and was published in theLiechtensteinisches Landesgesetzblatt on 9 July 2024.[4][5][6] It came into effect on 1 January 2025.[101][102][2][1][103] Article 1 of theMarriage Act (German:Ehegesetz) was amended to read:
Die Ehe ist die durch Vertrag begründete, volle und ungeteilte Lebensgemeinschaft zweier Menschen.
(Marriage is the full and undivided cohabitation of two people established by contract.)
TheCatholic Church opposes same-sex marriage and does not allow its clergy to officiate at such marriages. In 2007, theArchbishop of Vaduz,Wolfgang Haas, criticized efforts to legalize same-sex registered partnerships, calling same-sex unions "[contradictions of] both the order of creation and the order of salvation".[104] He reiterated his opposition in 2010, calling the introduction of registered partnerships "completely wrong".[105] In March 2022, Haas called same-sex marriage a "diabolical attack [on marriage and the family]".[106] Protesting the passage of a same-sex marriage motion in the Landtag, he announced in December 2022 that he would cancel aMass traditionally held onNew Year's Day at the opening session of Parliament. Haas said that same-sex marriage "runs counter to natural sensibility, to natural law in accordance with reason and, in particular, to the Christian concept of the human being."[107] Prime Minister Risch criticized the cancellation, accusing Haas of "put[ing] the dividing before the unifying".[108] In December 2023, the Holy See publishedFiducia supplicans, a declaration allowingCatholic priests tobless couples who are not considered to bemarried according to church teaching, including theblessing of same-sex couples.[109]
In June 2017, following the approval of a same-sex marriage law by the GermanBundestag, theLiechtensteiner Vaterland commissioned an online opinion poll wherein it asked its readers whether they supported or opposed the legalisation of same-sex marriages in Liechtenstein. 55% answered "yes and as quickly as possible" and another 14% answered "yes" but were opposed to or had difficulties supporting adoption by same-sex spouses. 27% opposed same-sex marriage, while the remaining 4% were undecided or indifferent.[111]
A poll conducted in February 2021 by theLiechtenstein Institute (Liechtenstein-Institut) showed that a majority of voters from each political party answered positively when asked "Should same-sex couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples in all areas?".[7] In total, 72% of voters supported same-sex marriage (48% "Yes", 24% "Rather Yes") and 28% opposed (14% "No", 14% "Rather No"). Voters from the Free List were the most supportive (96% in favour, 4% opposed), followed by voters from the Progressive Citizens' Party (74% in favour, 27% opposed), the Patriotic Union (68% in favour, 32% opposed), independents (65% in favour, 35% opposed) and the Democrats for Liechtenstein (55% in favour, 45% opposed).
^FBP (1;Albert Frick, although he was later one of the 15 signatories to a motion to open civil marriage to same-sex couples), and VU (2;Peter Frick andGünter Vogt)
^"Koalitionsvertrag unterzeichnet" (in German). vu-online.li. 24 March 2021.Gesellschaft - "Die Rechtssicherheit für nicht-traditionelle Familienmodelle wird verbessert"
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