Skip to main content

During Pride Month, a Look at LGBT Rights

New Map Shows Marriage Equality, Civil Unions and Registered Partnership Worldwide

June is Pride Month in many parts of the world, commemorating the Stonewall uprising of June 1969, when lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in New York stood up against police brutality and injustice and demanded fair treatment.

Throughout Pride Month, LGBT people and their allies celebrate their accomplishments achieved since Stonewall, but they also advocate for what needs to be done in order to secure full equal rights and non-discrimination in their own countries and in solidarity with LGBT people elsewhere, in situations where anti-LGBT discrimination and violence are rampant.

Map shows marriage equality, civil unions and registered partnership worldwide

Human Rights Watch has launched a new resource: a map that provides an overview of countries with marriage equality, civil unions or registered partnerships worldwide.

View the Map Here

Marriage equality remains an issue at the forefront of Pride.

In celebration of Pride Month, Human Rights Watch is launching a new resource: a map that provides an overview of countries with marriage equality, civil unions or registered partnership; links to the relevant legislation; and, where possible, a brief explanation of the path – legislative, judicial, or other – that these countries took to achieve marriage equality or to provide for same-sex civil unions or registered partnership.

As legal situations change in countries, this map will be updated.

In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to open civil marriage to same-sex couples. Other countries followed. Today there are 25 countries with marriage equality, with Austria, Taiwan and Chile expected to join the list soon.

An additional sixteen countries have made civil unions or registered partnerships available for same-sex couples. In some cases, civil unions or registered partnership provide all the same rights and responsibilities of civil marriage and differ in name only; countries with such laws include Croatia, Greece, Slovenia and Switzerland. In other cases, civil unions provide some, but not all, of these rights.

There are causes to celebrate during Pride Month, as laws and policies continue to improve LGBT rights around the world.

We hope this map will assist those who are looking for this type of information. If you have additional information, you can contact Human Rights Watch via lgbt@hrw.org.

Your tax deductible gift can help stop human rights violations and save lives around the world.

Region / Country
Topic