The Swiss government and most political parties supported the measure, as did the Federation of Protestant Churches. Predictably, the Roman Catholic Church opposed it.

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On June 5, 2005, Swiss voters approved, by a 58 percent majority, the national registered partnership law. It grants same-sex couples the same rights and protections as legally married couples, including next of kin status, taxation, and social security benefits.

The Swiss Registered Partnership law went into effect on January 1, 2007.

The European registered partnership acts essentially treat partners as if they were married, but with some exceptions, the most important of which being that none of them allow for joint adoption.

In 2005, Great Britain permitted same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships that confer all the rights and responsibilities of marriage but that cannot be called marriage.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair hailed the civil partnership law as a "landmark measure" that "gives gay and lesbian couples who register their relationship the same safeguards over inheritance, insurance and employment and pension benefits as married couples. . . . No longer will same sex couples who have decided to share their lives fear that they will be denied a say over the partner's medical treatment or find themselves denied a home if their partner dies."

The French Civil Solidarity Pact

The French partnership law, which was passed in 1999 and is known as the "civil solidarity pact" or "pacte civile," is open to same-sex and opposite-sex couples and grants marriage-like rights in the areas of inheritance, housing, and social welfare. A civil solidarity pact can be terminated unilaterally by a partner, and no obligations follow on dissolution. The law does not confer inheritance rights, nor does it allow for adoption. The law is therefore more akin to a limited domestic partnership law than it is to the European registered partnership acts or to the civil union law. Still, it has proven popular with many French couples.

Dutch, Belgian, and Spanish Marriage

On April 1, 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage, with the "Act on the Opening up of Marriage." The Act simply yet boldly proclaims, "A marriage can be contracted by two persons of different sex or of the same sex."

Couples in a registered partnership can convert their partnership into a marriage. But those who prefer not to can remain in their registered partnership, and couples can continue to enter registered partnerships rather than marriage if they so choose. According to the legislative findings, "the interest in registered partnerships in the Netherlands is relatively high . . . ." Interestingly, the government acknowledged that the popularity of registered partnerships "make[s] it plausible that there is a need for a marriage-like institution devoid of the symbolism attached to marriage."

Belgium became the second country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage, with a law that took effect in May 2003. However, unlike in the Netherlands, same-sex married couples in Belgium are still not allowed to adopt.

In June 2005, Spain became the third country to legalize same-sex marriage. The Spanish law allows same-sex couples to adopt. Upon the law's passage, Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said, "We are not legislating . . . for remote unknown people. We are expanding opportunities for the happiness of our neighbors, our work colleagues, our friends, our relatives." Noting the developments in the Netherlands and Belgium, Prime Minister Zapatero proclaimed, "We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven . . . by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality."

Canada

After a protracted struggle, Canada became the fourth country to allow same-sex marriage. The drive for marriage in Canada achieved a significant victory with the Canadian Supreme Court's 1999 decision in M. v. H. The Court ruled 8-1 that the exclusion of same-sex partners from the definition of spouse in the Ontario Family Law Act for purposes of spousal support violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court stopped short of declaring that same-sex couples have the right to marry, but the sentiment of the opinion seemed to suggest that such a step was soon to follow.