Legalization of Civil Unions

Date: October 1, 1989 • Location: Rome, Italy

Civil unions between same-sex couples were legalised in Denmark, the first country to do so.

A civil union, also known by a variety of other terms, is a legal recognition of a relationship. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with child adoption being a common exception. Many jurisdictions with civil unions recognize foreign unions if those are essentially equivalent to their own; for example, the United Kingdom lists equivalent unions in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 Schedule 20. The marriages of same-sex couples performed abroad may be recognized as civil unions in jurisdictions that only have the latter.