Same-sex marriage

===Contemporary===
[[File:NewlyMarriedCoupleAtCourthouse.jpg|thumb|Newly married couple in [[Minnesota]] shortly after the legalization of [[same-sex marriage in the United States]], 2015]]
The first same-sex couple to be [[Timeline of same-sex marriage#1970s|married legally]] in modern times were [[Michael McConnell and Jack Baker]] in 1971, in [[Hennepin County, Minnesota]].<ref>William N. Eskridg Jr. and Christopher R. Riano, "Marriage Equality: From Outlaws to In-Laws", ''Yale University Press'' (2020), Chapter 24</ref> Historians variously trace the beginning of the modern movement in support of same-sex marriage to anywhere from around the 1980s to the 1990s. During the 1980s in the [[United States of America|United States]], the [[HIV/AIDS in the United States|AIDS epidemic]] led to increased attention on the legal aspects of same-sex relationships.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March–April 2013 |title=How Same-Sex Marriage Came to Be |url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2013/03/how-same-sex-marriage-came-to-be |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502173822/https://harvardmagazine.com/2013/03/how-same-sex-marriage-came-to-be |archive-date=2 May 2019 |access-date=28 March 2015 |website=[[Harvard Magazine]]}}</ref> Andrew Sullivan made the first case for same sex marriage in a major American journal in 1989,<ref name=intelligent>{{cite web|url=http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/story/andrew-sullivan-thinking-out-loud|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425202254/http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/story/andrew-sullivan-thinking-out-loud|archive-date=25 April 2009 |title=Andrew Sullivan: Thinking. Out. Loud. |newspaper=Intelligent Life |date=Spring 2009 |access-date=24 October 2013|first=Johann |last=Hari}}</ref> published in ''The New Republic''.<ref name="groom">{{cite news|last=Sullivan|first=Andrew|title=Here Comes the Groom|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/11/gay_marriage_votes_and_andrew_sullivan_his_landmark_1989_essay_making_a.html|access-date=24 October 2013|newspaper=Slate|date=9 November 2012}}</ref> 

In 1989, Denmark became the first country to legally recognize a relationship for same-sex couples, establishing [[registered partnership]]s, which gave those in same-sex relationships "most rights of married heterosexuals, but not the right to adopt or obtain joint custody of a child".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rule |first=Sheila |date=2 October 1989 |title=Rights for Gay Couples in Denmark |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/02/world/rights-for-gay-couples-in-denmark.html |url-status=live |access-date=19 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304080523/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/02/world/rights-for-gay-couples-in-denmark.html |archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref> In 2001, the [[Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands|continental Netherlands]] became the first country to broaden marriage laws to include same-sex couples.<ref name="bloomberg-2014-12-04" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=26 May 2009 |title=Same-sex marriage around the world |work=CBC News |location=Toronto |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/same-sex-marriage-around-the-world-1.799137 |url-status=live |access-date=6 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101125125134/http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/26/f-same-sex-timeline.html |archive-date=25 November 2010}}</ref> Since then, same-sex marriage has been established by law in 34 other countries, including most of the [[Americas]] and [[Western Europe]]. Yet its spread has been uneven — [[Same-sex marriage in South Africa|South Africa]] is the only country in [[LGBT rights in Africa|Africa]] to take the step; [[Same-sex marriage in Taiwan|Taiwan]] the only one in [[LGBT rights in Asia|Asia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 April 2021 |title=The Dutch went first in 2001; who has same-sex marriage now? |url=https://apnews.com/article/europe-africa-netherlands-job-cohen-western-europe-e08b053af367028737c9c41c492cc568 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210821101311/https://apnews.com/article/europe-africa-netherlands-job-cohen-western-europe-e08b053af367028737c9c41c492cc568 |archive-date=21 August 2021 |access-date=21 August 2021 |website=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Kathmandu Post |url=https://kathmandupost.com/art-culture/2024/02/02/an-initiative-for-marriage-equality-for-the-lgbtqia-community |website=An initiative for marriage equality for the LGBTQIA+ community |access-date=3 February 2024}}</ref>
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