Same-sex marriage in Belgium
A bill for the legalization of same-sex marriages was passed by the Senate on 28 November 2002, and by the Chamber of Representatives on 30 January 2003.
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.
Belgian civil law did not explicitly require that two people be of opposite gender to be able to marry, as this was considered self-evident.
Private member's bills in the 1990s by Vlaams Blok senators to add this as an explicit requirement were never considered.
The coalition agreement included "implementing a full legal partnership scheme" as well as "immediately making the Act of 23 November 1998 enter into force", which had not been done yet.
As the first same-sex marriage in the Netherlands was performed on 1 April 2001, the Belgian Government, mostly under the lead of Minister of Health Magda Aelvoet (Agalev), began considering it as well.
On 30 November 2001, however, the Council of State gave a negative legal opinion on the bill, saying that "marriage is defined as the union of a man and a woman".
[18] In May 2002, the government bill was withdrawn from the Chamber and instead introduced as a private member's bill (which does not require opinions by the Council of State) in the Senate by the group leaders of the majority parties, Jeannine Leduc (VLD), Philippe Mahoux (PS), Philippe Monfils (MR), Myriam Vanlerberghe (SP), Marie Nagy (Ecolo) and Frans Lozie (Agalev).
As Minister Aelvoet resigned on 28 August 2002 and elections were to be held in June 2003, the fate of the bill was unclear.
[25] In November 2003, opponents of same-sex marriage petitioned the Arbitration Court to invalidate the law as unconstitutional.
Their main argument held that treating fundamentally different situations the same way violated the equality principle of the Constitution.
A circulaire by Minister of Justice Laurette Onkelinx (PS) of 23 January 2004, however, permits any couple to marry in Belgium if at least one of the spouses has lived in the country for a minimum of three months.
An equivalent solution for male same-sex couples has not been agreed upon, due to the controversy surrounding surrogacy.
[39] In September 2022, Roman Catholic bishops in Flanders issued a document permitting same-sex unions to be blessed in their churches.
The document allows for a ritual which includes a prayer and a final benediction in front of family and friends.
It emphasised that while such blessings did not alter the Catholic doctrine on "sacramental marriage," the move would allow the Church to be "pastorally close to homosexual persons" and a "welcoming [place] that excludes no one.
[46] According to an Ifop poll conducted that same month, 71% of Belgians supported allowing same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.
[48] A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 82% of Belgian people supported same-sex marriage, 10% were opposed and 8% did not know or had refused to answer.
The survey also showed that 80% of Belgians thought that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex", while 18% disagreed.
