Same-sex marriage has been legal in Belgium since 1 June A bill for the legalization of same-sex marriages was passed by the Senate on 28 November , and by the Chamber of Representatives on 30 January King Albert II granted his assent , and the bill entered into force on 1 June. Polling indicates that a significant majority of Belgians support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. In , a bill was introduced in the Federal Parliament to provide for a legal framework of "cohabitation agreements".
It was mostly intended as a response to the lowering marriage rates rather than giving rights to same-sex couples. In , the bill was changed to " statutory cohabitation ", [a] and finally voted on. The Chamber of Representatives approved it by a 98β10 vote with 32 abstentions and the Senate by a 39β8 vote with 19 abstentions. The Act establishing statutory cohabitation , [b] also known as the Act of 23 November , amended certain provisions of the Belgian Civil Code and the Belgian Judicial Code to give limited rights to registered same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
However, being a couple is not a requirement to make a declaration of statutory cohabitation; relatives can do so too. The law was legally published on 12 January but would not go into effect until 1 January Since , the number of newly-established statutory cohabitations has remained relatively constant at around 38, new unions per year.
In , 40, new unions were registered compared to 44, marriages and 26, unions were dissolved compared to 22, divorces. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Belgium since 1 June , making it the second country in the world to open marriage to same-sex couples, after the Netherlands , and 9 days ahead of the Canadian province of Ontario. Legislation to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples was passed by both chambers of the Federal Parliament in November and January with the support of most political parties, and received royal assent on 13 February In Belgian public discourse, same-sex marriage is commonly known as "marriage for all" or as "homomarriage".
In the late s, gay rights organisations in Belgium lobbied for the legalization of same-sex marriage. Belgian civil law did not explicitly require that two people be of opposite gender to be able to marry, as this was considered self-evident. Private member's bills in the s by Flemish Block senators to add this as an explicit requirement were never considered.
