About Follow Donate. A growing number of governments around the world are considering whether to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages. So far, 30 countries and territories have enacted national laws allowing gays and lesbians to marry, mostly in Europe and the Americas. In Mexico, some jurisdictions allow same-sex couples to wed, while others do not. Below is a list of countries that have legalized the practice, with the most recent countries to do so shown first. Northern Ireland had been the last part of the UK where same-sex marriage was banned; England and Wales moved to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed in and Scotland followed in see below. The decision, which went into effect immediately, makes the Andean mountain nation the fifth country in Latin America to allow gays and lesbians to wed.

Before and during the formation of the United Kingdom , Christianity and homosexuality were seen to clash. Same-sex sexual activity was characterised as "sinful" and, under the Buggery Act , was outlawed and punishable by death. LGBT rights first came to prominence following the decriminalisation of sexual activity between men, in in England and Wales , and later in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Sexual activity between women was never subject to the same legal restriction.

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