Country: Spain
Year legalized: 2005
How it happened: In the face of vocal opposition from Catholic officials, the Spanish parliament narrowly passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage by adding just one line to existing law: "Marriage will have the same requirements and results when the two people entering into the contract are of the same sex or of different sexes." Gay-marriage advocates hailed the language, arguing that it did away with legal distinctions between same-sex and heterosexual unions, while the legislation in the Netherlands and Belgium established a separate category of rights for same-sex couples.
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