As the United States grapples with the debate over whether gay marriage should be legalized, some countries are in the process of reshaping their laws on the controversial subject, while others have had civil union and marriage laws in place for several years.

The global view on gay marriage varies widely: Some European countries say they have experienced little societal change in the wake of equalizing marriage laws for all couples. In other countries, such as Canada, the topic is divisive enough that it has played a role in shaping the outcome of elections. While much of Europe and North America is caught up in the debate, however, the issue is not on the agenda for discussion in many of the world's more conservative quarters, including much of Asia and Africa.

Legalized gay marriage: three countries' laws
Three countries worldwide have passed legislation affording a gay couple the same benefits as a man and woman who are married. Of these, the Netherlands -- already socially liberal on such issues as euthanasia and drug legalization -- provides the most sweeping rights.

The country was locked in a dialogue for 15 years about whether to legalize gay marriage, starting in 1985 when gay couples issued court challenges protesting the limited rights granted in the country's "cohabitation contracts." Legislation eventually broadened the rights allowed under these contracts.

A 1998 law created "registered partnerships" that were open to gay and straight couples and granted health and pension benefits, as well as inheritance and adoption rights, among other allowances.

The Netherlands legalized gay marriage on April 1, 2002, allowing homosexual couples full-fledged marriage rights identical to those allowed heterosexual couples. In fact, the new laws struck all reference to gender from the country's marriage laws. The vast majority of Dutch parliament members voted in favor of the measure, with 109 members approving equal marriage rights and 31 voting against.

According to Dutch government agency Centraal Bureau Voor de Statistiek (Statistics Netherlands), the number of gay marriages has dropped off steadily since the laws came into effect. According to agency statistics, 2,400 gay marriages took place in the portion of 2001 during which gay marriage was legal, with 1,800 couples following suit in 2002. That number dropped to 1,500 same-sex couples marrying in 2003, out of a total of 82,600 marriages.

Belgium followed quickly on the heels of the Dutch decision, legalizing gay marriage in January 2003. The decision gave married gay couples similar rights to heterosexual married couples.

While the marriage law initially only allowed couples from countries where gay marriage was legal to marry in Belgium, this stipulation was lifted in February 2004, allowing non-Belgian couples to marry as long as one partner lives in or is a regular visitor to the country.

Belgium's adoption laws, however, prevent gay couples from adopting a child. For lesbian couples, a child's biological mother is considered to be the child's sole parent, while the other partner is not granted a legal parental role.

In a September 2003 annual report on human rights issues in the European Union, the European Parliament recommended that the 15 member states grant homosexuals the right to marry and adopt; this recommendation may begin to affect, among other things, Belgium's laws banning homosexual adoption.

Spain became the third European country to legalize gay marriage on June 30, 2005, when the Congress of Deputies approved such a bill, which also paves the way for gay couples to adopt children and inherit each other's property, by a 187-147 vote.

The Socialist government's bill was fiercely opposed by Spain's Roman Catholic church and the conservative opposition Popular Party, whose deputies formed the bulk of the opposing vote, according to the Associated Press.

Representatives of gay and lesbian groups applauded the bill's passage. "This is a great and historic day because never before has such a small legal reform made such an important improvement in rights and in favor of freedom and equality," said Pedro Zerolo, a leader of Spain's homosexual rights group.

Canada stepped to the forefront of the gay marriage debate in June 2003, after an Ontario appeals court upheld a previous court ruling that banning gay marriage ran counter to the Canadian Constitution's 1982 Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court challenged the common law definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman, declaring that definition invalid.

Similar challenges took places in British Columbia in July 2003, and Quebec in March 2004. All three provinces, which together are home to roughly 70 percent of the country's 32 million inhabitants, began issuing marriage licenses immediately after the appeals court rulings.

After the three provinces' high courts ruled on the matter, then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien -- who resigned in December 2003 -- said the government would not appeal the decisions to the Supreme Court, but instead would draft legislation to legalize gay marriage.

The decision did not come easily, in a political or personal sense, to the Catholic Chretien, who knew that Canadian opinion on the issue was divided more deeply than Belgian and Dutch public opinion had been. He encountered considerable opposition from the Catholic Church, with Alberta Bishop Fred Henry, for example, accusing him of making a "morally grave error."

But Chretien, who has stated that his first priority is to serve the Canadian public and not his Church, told Liberal Party members in June 2003 that he believes laws must be adapted to fit societal change.

"I have learned over 40 years in public life that society evolves, that the concept of human rights evolves even more quickly than some of us predicted -- and sometimes even in ways that make people uncomfortable. At the end of the day, we have to live up to our responsibility."

In July 2003, the Canadian government issued the draft of a bill changing the definition of marriage to "the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others." The draft was sent to Canada's Supreme Court, and on Dec. 9, 2004, the high court said the government can redefine marriage to include same-sex couples.

The Supreme Court also said, however, that religious officials cannot be forced to perform unions against their beliefs, and that the legislation must still pass the House of Commons, according to the Associated Press.

Current Prime Minister Paul Martin, also a Catholic, promised that after the court ruled, he would introduce a bill to Parliament legalizing gay marriage throughout all ten provinces and three territories.

Canadian conservatives, led by Canadian Alliance leader Stephen Harper, introduced a "Defense of Marriage" motion into Parliament seeking to leave the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Parliament narrowly rejected the motion, 137-132, in September 2003.

According to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, 1,400 same-sex marriages had taken place in British Columbia and another 14,700 in Ontario by February 2004. According to the Montreal Gazette, only eight gay couples had married in Quebec as of March 24, 2004.

Civil unions: widespread throughout Europe
Several European countries have had gay partnership laws in place for several years, while others are in the process of implementing such legal arrangements.

In 1989, Denmark became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex unions, through the introduction of a registered partnership that allows couples largely the same rights as those given to heterosexual couples -- except where adoption is concerned.

A Danish registered partnership allows one partner to adopt his or her partner's child, but gay couples are not permitted to adopt other children. The registered partnership also prohibits artificial insemination for a lesbian couple.

Gay couples who have been residents of Denmark for two or more years may enter into a registered partnership. The Danish law also recognizes registered partnerships from Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have laws identical to Denmark's, which were enacted later (Sweden is currently preparing legislation allowing for full legalization of gay marriage).

Several other countries have laws allowing for registered same-sex cohabitators, including France, where civil unions became legal in 2000, and Germany, which legalized unions in 2001.

Similarly, the UK announced plans on March 31, 2004 for a bill permitting gay couples the same legal rights as married couples. The Department of Trade projects that between 5,500 and 11,000 homosexual couples will enter into such partnerships by 2010. The Department revised these numbers downward after the number of gay partnerships in Scandinavian countries proved lower than initially expected.

South Africa has laws written into its post-apartheid constitution protecting homosexuals and outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. South Africa is the first African country to allow such adoption; South African gay rights groups, meanwhile, are lobbying for marriage rights.

New Zealand recently finished drafting a civil union bill that will be introduced to Parliament in April or May 2004. The civil union would be a viable option for both homosexual and heterosexual couples.

-- Compiled for the Online NewsHour by Jessica Moore