Same-sex marriage in Belgium
Marriage Civil Unions Limited domestic recognition (in fact) Limited recognition of unions in other countries No recognition Marriage prohibited for same-sex couples
The same-sex marriage in Belgium began on January 30, 2003 with the promulgation of the new law by the Belgian parliament, although with some restrictions, making it the second country in the world to allow same-sex marriage (the first being the Netherlands). Since 2006, the law allows gay couples to adopt children.
Originally, the government allowed foreign gay couples to marry only if their home countries also allowed such unions. Following a revision of the law in October 2004, however, the marriage of any adult couple in Belgium is permitted if at least one of the two persons has lived in the country for a minimum of three months.
Civil union
The act of 23 November 1998 guaranteed legal cohabitation (Dutch: wettelijke samenwoning; French: cohabitation légale; German: gesetzliche Lebensgemeinschaft) in Belgium. The law grants limited rights for registrations of same-sex and opposite-sex couples. However, people who are not a couple can also make a declaration of legal cohabitation, which includes family members.
The law was legally published on January 12, 1999. It went into effect on January 1, 2000, according to a royal decree signed on December 14, and published on December 23, 1999.
Marriage
Legislative history
On May 28, 2002, a bill for the legalization of same-sex marriage was introduced in the Senate by Jeannine Leduc (VLD), Philippe Mahoux (PS), Philippe Monfils (MR), Myriam Vanlerberghe (SP.A-Spirit), Nagy Marie (Ecolo) and Lozie Frans (Groen). The same happened on November 28, 2002, with 46 votes in favor and 15 against. On January 30, 2003, the bill was approved by the House of Representatives by a vote of 91 in favor and 22 against.
King Albert II signed and promulgated the bill on February 13, 2003 and it was published in the Belgian Official Gazette on February 28 and entered into force on June 1.
The first paragraph of article 143 of the Belgian Civil Code (Book I, Title V, Chapter I), reads as follows:
- in Dutch: Een huwelijk kan worden aangegaan door twee personen van verschillend de Van hetzelfde geslacht.
- in French: deux personnes de sexe différent ou de même sexe mariage contracter peuvent.
Two people of different sex or of the same sex can marry.
Originally the law did not allow same-sex couples to adopt, and since same-sex birth within marriage does not imply affiliation, the spouse of the biological father had no way of becoming the legal father. On December 1, 2005, a bill to allow adoption was passed by the House of Representatives of parliament. It was passed in April 2006, allowing same-sex couples to cooperate in parenting under the the state.
Religious marriage
The United Protestant Church of Belgium, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, has allowed the blessing of unions for homosexual couples since 2007, reforming its marriage liturgy without distinguishing between the sexes of the spouses, remaining at the local level of each congregation the decision to celebrate them or not.
Statistics
According to the Belgian government, approximately 300 same-sex couples were married between June 2003 and April 2004 (245 in 2003 and 55 in 2004). This constituted 1.2% of all marriages in Belgium during that period. Two thirds of the unions were between men and one third between women. On July 22, 2005, the Belgian government announced that a total of 2,442 same-sex marriages had occurred in the country since the extension of marriage rights two years earlier.