^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.
Ade facto union (Portuguese:união de facto,[6]pronounced[uˈnjɐ̃w̃dɨˈfaktu];Mirandese:ounion de fato) provides opposite-sex and same-sex couples with similar rights and benefits asmarriage. Same-sexde facto unions were established byLaw no. 7/2001 (Lei n.º 7/2001) in 2001.
On 1 February 2006, a lesbian couple, Teresa Pires and Helena Paixão, applied for amarriage licence. Their application was refused, but they pledged to challenge the ban in court, arguing that it discriminated against them on the basis of theirsexual orientation, which is illegal under theConstitution of Portugal.[7] In May 2007, a lower court rejected the motion, prompting the couple to appeal to thePortuguese Constitutional Court. The court received the case in July 2007. On 19 October 2007, the couple's lawyer, Luís Grave Rodrigues, presented their arguments, including seven legal opinions (pareceres) from Portuguese professors of law asserting that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional.[8][9]
On 9 July 2009, the Constitutional Court decided on a 3–2 vote that the Constitution did not demand the recognition of same-sex marriage,[10][11][12] but also did not oppose it, and that the decision had to be made by theAssembly of the Republic.
Prime MinisterJosé Sócrates stated on 18 January 2009 that, if re-elected in theSeptember 2009 elections, he planned to introduce a bill to grant same-sex couples the right to marry. While the bill did not contemplateadoption, most LGBT organizations in Portugal supported the measure as an important step.[15][16][17] In March 2009, Jorge Lacão, the Secretary of State for the Presidency of theCouncil of Ministers, confirmed that the Socialist government intended to legalize same-sex marriage if re-elected in 2009.[18] Leader of the conservative Social Democratic PartyManuela Ferreira Leite expressed her opposition to the recognition of same-sex marriage.[19]
In May 2009, a grassroots movement, the Movement for Equality in Access to Civil Marriage (Movimento pela Igualdade no acesso ao casamento civil), was formed to campaign for the proposed same-sex marriage bill. It attracted the support of several Portuguese celebrities, including Nobel Prize winnerJosé Saramago and theMayor of Lisbon,António Costa.[20][21] In October, the newly re-elected Sócrates affirmed that the Socialist Party would move forward with its campaign promise to legalize same-sex marriage. The proposition received strong support from the Left Bloc, with its parliamentary leader,Francisco Louçã, presenting his own bill to legalize same-sex marriage.[22][23][24][25] In mid-October 2009, Lacão said it was likely that same-sex marriage would be legalised in early 2010.[26] On 3 November,José Ribeiro e Castro, a deputy from theCDS – People's Party, called for areferendum on the issue, but the Prime Minister, the Socialist Party and the Left Bloc rejected the idea.[27][28][29][30]
On 4 November 2009,Francisco Assis, the parliamentary leader of the Socialist Party, said that the same-sex marriage bill would be voted on soon and confirmed that the bill would not allow same-sex couples to adopt children.[31][32] Thegovernment gave its official approval to the same-sex marriage bill on 17 December.[33][34] On 8 January 2010, after a debate which included the intervention of Prime Minister Sócrates,[35][36][37] theAssembly of the Republic passed the bill infirst reading by 122 votes to 95,[a] and rejected bills introduced by the Left Bloc and the Green Party,[39][40] as well as a measure to createcivil unions submitted by the PSD.[41][42][43][44] The Constitutional Affairs Committee approved the bill on 10 February,[45] and it passed its final parliamentary vote on 11 February 125–95 with support from the Socialist Party, the Left Bloc, the Greens and theCommunist Party.[46][47] The legislation was submitted toPresidentAníbal Cavaco Silva on 24 February.[48][49] On 13 March, Cavaco Silva asked theConstitutional Court to verify whether the bill wasconstitutional.[50][51] The court ruled 11–2 on 8 April that the bill was constitutional, with three members concluding that the Constitution requires the recognition of same-sex marriages.[52][53][54][55] The ruling was published in the official gazette on 28 April, giving Cavaco Silva twenty days to sign, or veto, the bill.[56][57] On 17 May, he signed the bill into law.[58][59] It was published in theDiário da República on 31 May and became effective on 5 June 2010.[1][2] On 7 June, Teresa Pires and Helena Paixão, the couple who had originally challenged the same-sex marriage ban in court in 2006, became the first same-sex couple to marry in Portugal, exchanging vows at the registry office inLisbon.[60][61] The first same-sex marriage in theAzores was performed on 29 August 2010 onTerceira.[62]
Article 1577 of thePortuguese Civil Code was amended to read:[64]Marriage is a contract between two persons who intend to found a family through a full communion of life, in accordance with the provisions of this Code.[c] On 19 July 2010, the Institute of Registries and Notary (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado) published guidelines stating that marriages conducted abroad must be transcribed by civil registries even if they were performed before the legalization of same-sex marriage, that marriages performed under alternative legislation, such as civil partnerships and civil unions, cannot be transcribed, that foreign nationals can marry in Portugal even if marriage between same-sex couples is not recognized in their country of origin, and that same-sex foreign nationals can marry in Portugal without the need to establish residency.[65]
On 24 February 2012, Parliament rejected two bills which would have allowed married same-sex couples to adopt children.[66][67] On 17 May 2013, Parliament rejected a bill to allow same-sex couples to adopt in a 77–104 vote. That same day, Parliament approved a proposal in first reading to allow married same-sex spouses to adopt their partner's children (i.e.stepchild adoption);[68] however, that bill was rejected in second reading on 14 March 2014 in a 107–112 vote.[69] On 17 January 2014, Parliament approved a resolution to hold a referendum on adoption rights for same-sex couples.[70][71][72] On 28 January, President Cavaco Silva asked the Constitutional Court to verify whether the resolution was constitutional.[73][74] The court declared the resolution unconstitutional on 19 February 2014,[75][76] and Cavaco Silva vetoed it the following day.[77][78][73]
On 20 November 2015, Parliament approved 5 bills in first reading granting adoption rights to same-sex spouses. The bills were immediately sent to the Committee for Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees.[79][80][81][82][83][84] On 16 December, the committee merged the bills into a single proposal and voted in favour of its approval.[85][86] On 18 December, the bill was approved by Parliament in its second and final vote.[87][88] President Cavaco Silvavetoed the bill on 23 January 2016, with the decision being announced publicly on 25 January.[89][90][91] On 10 February, the veto was overridden by Parliament.[92][93] The law was published in the official journal on 29 February, and took effect the first day of the first month after publication (i.e. 1 March 2016).[94]
By June 2011, one year after the law had come into force, approximately 380 same-sex marriages had taken place in Portugal.[95] Figures for 2020 are lower than previous years because of the restrictions in place due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
Number of marriages and divorces in Portugal[96][97][98]
Mostreligious denominations in Portugal do not support same-sex marriage and do not allow their clergy tobless or officiate at marriages of same-sex couples. TheCatholic Church was opposed to the law and, while Portugal is a constitutional secular country, its status as a historicallyCatholic country was also a reason for themedia sensationalism which heightened the controversy over the law.[99] On 13 May 2010, during an official visit to Portugal four days before the ratification of the law,Pope Benedict XVI affirmed his opposition to same-sex marriage, describing it as "insidious and dangerous".[100][101] A few months earlier, 5,000 people had demonstrated against the legalization of same-sex marriage in a march in Lisbon.[102] In December 2023, theHoly See publishedFiducia supplicans, a declaration allowingCatholic priests tobless couples who are not considered to bemarried according to church teaching, including the blessing of same-sex couples.[103] ThePortuguese Episcopal Conference welcomed the declaration.[104] In September 2024, Father João Emanuel Pereir blessed a same-sex couple inPorto, which caused some controversy in Catholic circles.[105]
The 2015Eurobarometer found that 61% ofPortuguese people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 33% were opposed.[107]
APew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 59% of Portuguese people supported same-sex marriage, 28% were opposed and 13% did not know or had refused to answer.[108] When divided by religion, 82% of religiously unaffiliated people, 64% of non-practicing Christians and 43% of church-attending Christians supported same-sex marriage.[109] Opposition was 14% among 18–34-year-olds.[110]
The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 74% of Portuguese people thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 20% were opposed.[111] A 2023Ipsos poll showed that 80% of Portuguese people supported same-sex marriage, while 11% supported civil unions or other types of partnerships but not marriage, 5% were undecided and 4% were opposed to all recognition for same-sex couples.[112] The 2023 Eurobarometer showed that support had increased to 81%, while 14% were opposed. The survey also found that 73% of Portuguese people thought that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex", while 23% disagreed.[5]
^Many media outlets reported the vote as being 126 in favour to 97 against; however, three Socialist MPs and two Social Democratic MPs were absent from the Assembly during the vote, resulting in the vote being 122–95.[38]
^Portuguese:Casamento é o contrato celebrado entre duas pessoas que pretendem constituir família, mediante uma plena comunhão de vida, nos termos das disposições deste Código.
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