Which countries permit same sex marriage? How does Australia stack up?

It is embarrassing that, with news that Mexico will likely allow same sex marriage everywhere , that same sex marriage is still not permitted in Australia, and that rather than politicians just doing their job and passing laws to enable same sex marriage, we are likely (if the Turnbull government is re-elected) to have to go through the pain of a $160 million+ plebiscite, at the other end of which after more horrible things are said about LGBTI people (especially after the traumatic events of Orlando), psome conservative politicians will continue to oppose the recognition of equal rights.

So where else is same sex marriage permitted?

I thought it would be good to do a recap- and see which countries we are behind:

• Argentina- yes we are behind Argentina, who have had same sex marriage nationwide since 2010.
• Belgium was the second country to allow same sex marriage– 13 years ago, in 2003, and since then has elected an openly gay Prime Minister.
• Brazil has allowed same sex marriage since 2013.
• Canada was the fourth country in the world, and first outside Europe when it allowed same sex marriage 11 years ago, in 2005.
• Colombia allowed same sex marriage in April– by a ruling of its Constitutional Court (oh that’s right, we don’t have a Bill of Rights in Australia, alone of all the common law countries). Yes, Colombia, famous for coffee and cocaine is ahead of us.
• Denmark allowed same sex marriage back in 2012.
• Finland– not yet, but it will be in place on 1 March 2017.
• France has allowed same sex marriage since 2013.
• Greenland has allowed same sex marriage since April Fool’s Day this year– but the joke remains on us.
• Iceland has allowed same sex marriage since 2010, and since then elected an openly lesbian Prime Minister.
• Ireland has allowed same sex marriage since last year, when the Irish people voted in a  referendum overwhelmingly in favour. Unlike Australia, Ireland needed to change its constitution to allow same sex marriage. Here a plebiscite is not needed- as the ALP and the Greens have pointed out.
• Luxembourg has allowed same sex marriage since last year.
• Mexico– the changes proposed by the President came about by same sex marriage being allowed in several States and the Constitutional Court saying that marriage is not restricted to opposite sex couples, but legislation to allow this has been very slow to materialise. The leadership by the President should change all that.
• Netherlands- Go the Dutch! The Netherlands was the first country to allow same sex marriage and did so as long ago as 2001!
• New Zealand- our Kiwi cousins have had same sex marriage since 2013.
• Norway has had same sex marriage since 2009.
• Portugal has had same sex marriage since 2010.
• South Africa has had same sex marriage for almost 10 years– since late 2006.
• Spain has had same sex marriage for almost 11 years– since July 2005.
• Sweden has had same sex marriage since 2009.
• UK: England, Scotland and Wales have had same sex marriage since 2014. Northern Ireland does not have same sex marriage.
• US- about this time last year, the US Supreme Court allowed same sex marriage across all of the US.
• Uruguay- has had same sex marriage since 2013.

Australia prides itself as being a model Western nation- progressive, modern and democratic. A good guide for this is our membership of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development, the OECD. How do we stack up against other OECD members? Well, it’s evenly stacked: 17 all  now allow same sex marriage or are soon to do so.