Although Portugal has a reputation as a socially conservative country, on May 17, 2010, it became the eighth country to embrace marriage equality.

The decision was the culmination of a long battle for recognition of same-sex couples. In 2001, Portuguese glbtq activists won an important victory when Parliament, over the vociferous protests of the Catholic church, voted to extend to gay and lesbian couples living together for at least two years the same limited rights of common-law marriage that they had granted to similar heterosexual couples two years before.

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In 2004, protection against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation was incorporated into the Portugeuse Constitution, thus setting the stage for the terms of debate about same-sex marriage, which increased in intensity after Spain achieved marriage equality in 2005.

Same-sex marriage was debated in the 2005 legislative elections, but the Socialist Party, which won the election, failed to clearly endorse marriage equality. Although the new Prime Minister José Sócrates refused to include same-sex marriage in his government's agenda, he promised to revisit the issue were his government re-elected to a second term.

Accordingly, after being re-elected in October 2009, the Prime Minister announced that his party, with the support of the Left Bloc, would propose a bill that permitted same-sex marriage but that would not include adoption rights (though gay men and lesbians are allowed to adopt as individuals).

Right-wing parties called for a referendum on the issue, but this proposal was rejected by the government.

On January 8, 2010, after a lengthy and impassioned debate, the Portuguese Parliament passed the bill establishing same-sex marriage in its first reading. During this debate the Prime Minister declared that passage of the bill would put right an injustice that caused unnecessary pain. The final parliamentary vote took place on February 11.

On February 24, the Constitutional Affairs Committee sent the bill to conservative Portuguese President Aníbal Cavaco Silva. Amid calls from right-wing parties and Catholic bishops for him to veto the legislation, the President asked the Constitutional Court to rule on the bill's constitutionality.

On April 8, 2010, the Portuguese Constitutional Court ruled 11-2 that the bill is constitutional, with three members concluding that the Constitution not only permitted but actually required the recognition of same-sex marriages.

On May 17, 2010, the President reluctantly signed the bill, acknowledging that if he vetoed it the veto would be overturned by Parliament. "I feel I should not contribute to a pointless extension of this debate, which would only serve to deepen the divisions," he said.

The achievement of marriage equality in Portugal was seen as a stinging rebuff to Pope Benedict XVI, who on a visit to Portugal days before the President signed the bill into law, bitterly denounced same-sex marriage.

Iceland

In contrast to the bitter political battles waged to achieve marriage equality in many countries, the decision to permit same-sex marriage in Iceland was made without controversy, perhaps because the Prime Minister of Iceland, Johanna Sigurdardottir, is a lesbian who entered a civil partnership in 2002.

On June 11, 2010, the Althing, Iceland's parliament, voted 49 to 0 to amend its marriage laws to permit the marriage of same-sex couples. The legislation does not require the state church to sanction same-sex marriage, but does permit ministers to perform same-sex marriages at their discretion.

Iceland thus became the ninth country to permit same-sex marriage.