Same-sex union legislation

Sixteen countries and 34 jurisdictions worldwide have authorized civil unions or unregistered cohabitation for same-sex couples as an alternative to marriage.

[1][2] However, the first substantial recognition of same-sex couples did not occur before the introduction of a new legal form, that of registered partnerships, which was first enacted in Denmark in June 1989.

As of 9 February 2025, certain alternative form of legal recognition other than marriage has been allowed on a national level in Bolivia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Monaco, Montenegro, and San Marino.

Sometimes approving explicit bans or defining marriage as solely the union between a man and a woman, excluding all others.

Notes: Thirty-two countries have passed constitutional amendments banning a variety of same-sex unions.

[741] Vietnam, Cuba, and Ecuador repealed their same-sex marriage bans in November 2013, April 2019, and June 2019, respectively.

Those are Armenia, Belarus, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, the Central African Republic, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Jamaica, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Palau, Paraguay, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Serbia, Slovakia, South Sudan, Uganda, Ukraine, Venezuela and Zimbabwe.