NETHERLANDS

Laws:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 16 for all, sex between an adult and a young person between the ages of 12 and 16 is permitted by law, as long as the young person consents. It may only be prosecuted by complaint from the young person or the young person’s parents. The question remains whether the public prosecutions department would proceed to prosecute if the young person themself had consented and their parents filed the complaint.

2. Has a national gay rights law that bans some anti-gay discrimination, including labour, housing, medical care and access to goods and services.

3. Allows homosexuals in its military. Dutch laws permit members of the armed services to engage in consensual homosexual relationships when off duty and away for military premises, be it with a civilian or a member of the armed services of the same or another rank.

4. The Royal Dutch Air Force requires everyone entering the force to undergo an innovative training program to increase sensitivity to Gays in the Air Force. The Dutch armed forces appear to be the most sensitive to gays in the world, although the Army and Navy do not have similar training programs.

5. Allows foreign partners of its homosexual citizenry to receive residency permits.

6. Allows homosexuals to adopt children.

7. Allows same-sex couples to marry, granting gay couples complete parity with married heterosexual couples. Same-sex couples can marry at city hall and adopt children. They will be able to divorce through the court system, like heterosexual couples.

Court:

1. The courts have interpreted the constitution to prohibit anti-gay discrimination.

 

DENMARK

Laws:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 15 for all, but it is an offence to "induce" a person under 18 to sexual acts "by gravely abusing superior age or experience".

2. Allows homosexuals to register their partnership and gives them (with some exceptions) the same rights and responsibilities as a heterosexual married couple.

3. Allows foreign partners of its homosexual citizenry to receive residency permits.

4. Has a national gay rights law that bans some anti-gay discrimination.

5. Allows homosexuals in its military.

6. Allows homosexuals in registered partnerships to adopt their partners' children, but not other children.

 

FINLAND

Laws:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 16 for all.

2. Has a national gay rights law that bans some anti-gay discrimination including employment.

3. Allows homosexuals in its military.

4. Allows foreign partners of its homosexual citizenry to receive residency permits.

5. Allows Finns who are at least 18 years of age to register a same-sex union in a civil ceremony comparable to traditional matrimony. They also give gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples when inheriting each other's property and in cases of divorce. The law makes same-sex partnerships legally binding but stops short of letting lesbian and gay couples adopt children or use the same surname.

Court:

1. On 10-19-01 Finland's supreme court awarded custody of two children to their deceased mother's lesbian partner instead of their biological father. Lower courts had said the children should be handed over to the father, who has been living abroad for most of the children's lives, but the supreme court based its decision on the will of the children, who wanted to stay with their mother's partner. It is the first supreme court ruling in which custody of children was given to a person not related to the children rather than to a biological family member. The two children, ages 12 and 14, had been in the sole custody of their mother and her partner since 1993. "The court came to the conclusion that it was in the best interest of the children that custody be awarded to the person with whom the children were living," the ruling read. On 9-28-01 Finland granted legal recognition to same-sex partnerships, although it stopped short of giving lesbian and gay couples adoption rights.

 

GERMANY

Laws:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 14 for all. Sexual activity with a person over 14 and under 16 by a person over 18 exploiting a vulnerably placed minor or for payment can be punished with up to five years imprisonment, and sexual activity with a minor in the same age group by a person of over 21 if he or she takes advantage of the victims incapability of sexual self-determination can be punished with up to two years imprisonment.

2. Allows same-sex couples to register their partnerships; gives them hospital visitation rights; grants German resident status to foreign partners; extends to gay and lesbian co-parents some parental rights with respect to their partners' biological children; gives couples status identical to married couples for purposes of tenancy, inheritance (excluding inheritance taxes), pensions, and health insurance; and requires a formal legal process for dissolution of partnerships, and provision for one partner to collect support from the other afterwards if necessary. A decision later by the labor court will also ensure the financial benefits received by same-sex couples are on par with heterosexual couples. This follows a case of a male nurse filing for the same benefits as his straight colleagues. He had claimed it was unfair that he and his partner received less than his married co-workers. Now, location allowances and other financial issues will be equalized throughout the country's civil service and governmental agencies. A new law passed in 2004 allows same-sex couples to adopt each other's biological children and also gives state pension privileges for surviving partners and an exemption from testifying against each other in court.

3. Allows homosexuals in its military, but not as officers.

4. Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia have anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation.

5. Bans artificial insemination for lesbians.

6. Hamburg offers a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples, it allows hospital visitation rights, and federally subsidized low-rent housing to registered partners.

 

Court:

1. On 7-17-02 Germany's high court upheld a law that gives same-sex couples some marriage like benefits. Judges at the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe voted 5-3 to back the law, which was challenged last year by Bavaria and two eastern states. The court rejected a lawsuit by conservatives who argued gay marriage violates constitutional provisions protecting marriage and the family. The law, in effect since August, allows same-sex couples to "marry" at registry offices and requires a court decision for divorce. Same-sex couples also receive rights given to heterosexual couples in areas such as inheritance and health insurance. The legislation brought Germany in line with countries such as Denmark, which was the first to grant rights to same-sex couples in 1989, France and Sweden. The Netherlands remains the only country that extends equal marriage benefits to same-sex couples.

2. A German court in April, 2004 ruled that the civil service and all government agencies must pay benefits to the partners of same-sex couples equal to those they pay to the married spouses of heterosexuals. This decision by the federal labor court in effect expands the country's domestic partner laws without parliamentary approval. In their ruling, the judges said that there is no difference between a registered life partnership and marriage when it came to remuneration in the public service, with the court accepting that a Eingetragenelebensgemeinschaft, the German term for a registered domestic partnership, also meant family status. A leading member of the parliamentary Green Party, Volker Beck hailed the judgment as a "big break-through". This judgment followed a case brought by a male nurse who claimed heterosexual married colleagues received higher benefits. Like marriage, the court said, registered same-sex partnerships are a long-term relationship with their disillusionment requiring a judicial decision. Introduced in August 2002, the registered partnership law was an attempt by Germany's Social Democrat-Green Party coalition government to bring same-sex relationships

into line with straight couples, without granting the status of marriage. It provides rights relating to hospital visits and taking over apartments in the event of the death of one partner. Nevertheless there are still some areas where the law falls short. Conservative lawmakers in parliament have consistently blocked attempts to expand the law, notably in taxation.

3. 0n 6-24-05 the Berlin Administrative Court ruled that Germany's 2002 gay partnership law entitles a same-sex spouse to receive the pension benefits of a deceased partner. At issue in this ruling was the definition of the word 'spouse' in pension benefit plans. A retirement fund operated by the Berlin Medical Association rejected a 45-year-old general practitioner's application to have his male partner listed as his 'spouse' in the benefits plan. The fund's lawyers argued that only a legally married spouse could continue to receive retirement benefits after the insured member's death. The Berlin court, in ruling in favour of the gay doctor, said the intent of Germany's 2002 gay partnership law was to entitle gay couples precisely to just such benefits.

 

 

FRANCE

LAWS:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 15 for all.

2. Has a national gay rights law that bans some anti-gay discrimination including employment, service, public or private.

3. Allows homosexuals in its military.

4. Has a partnership law that grants registered couples, gay or straight, romantic or not, many of the rights of marriage. The law applies in areas such as income tax, inheritance, housing, immigration, health benefits, job transfers, synchronized vacation time, responsibility for debts, and social welfare. It

does not grant equality in the areas of parental rights, adoption or medically assisted procreation. Unlike heterosexual couples who get married, registered partners will tie the knot before a court rather than at the town hall.

5. Bans artificial insemination for lesbians.

6. A national law makes homophobic or sexist speech illegal. Perpetrators of the crime face up to a year in jail and fines of up to $60,000. Gay rights groups say the law will prevent hate crimes and ensure that homophobia is treated in the same way racial discrimination is.

Court:

1. An appeals court ruled in March 1990 that Catholic officials had the right to fire a sexton because he is gay. The court said the man`s homosexuality was an infringement of his contract with the Paris parish where he had been employed.

2. In September 2004 a French Family court formally recognized a gay couple as parents for the first time, and nearly a quarter of a million children, who currently live in gay families, might be affected by this ruling in the future. The gay couple in question, Carla and Marie-Laure, along with their daughters Giulietta, Zelina and Luana, have been recognized as being one family -- the first time the term "family" has been officially used when both parents are the same sex. French laws do not recognize gay families, but with support from neighbors, relatives, pediatricians and teachers, the gay couple managed to circumvent the minefield of French law to achieve their newly found status as a family. This result may have far-reaching consequences in breaking down the remaining legal barriers, which prevent gay marriage, artificial insemination and adoption in the country. Marie-Laure is the natural mother of the children. One was conceived by artificial insemination, which had to be carried out in a Belgian clinic after France outlawed the practice for lesbians. Due to a change in French family law, Marie-Laure applied to have her 'parental authority' restored after giving up her legal rights as the children's mother when Carla adopted all three of them three years ago. On hearing that all three children were happy and well-adjusted and recognized both women as their mother, the family court of the Tribunal de Grande Instance decided that Marie-Laure's parental authority should be restored "in the best interests of the children." Justice Minister Dominique Perben said that this case was without precedent.

3. On 4-19-05 an appellate court in the southwestern city of Bordeaux upheld a lower court's decision that nullified the union of Stephane Chapin and Bertrand Charpentier and ruled that any redefinition of marriage should be taken up by lawmakers. Chapin and Charpentier exchanged vows June 5 last year in a highly publicized ceremony in the Bordeaux suburb of Begles. The government immediately said the same-sex marriage was not legal. In the lower court's ruling July 27, it said that same-sex couples are already covered under the so-called PACs legislation, which grants nonmarried cohabiting couples of the same or opposite sexes some of the rights enjoyed by married couples.

4. On 2-24-06 France's highest court ruled that both partners in a same-sex relationship have parental rights. This Cour de Cassation ruling does not make co-parenting automatic in a relationship, but will require a formal agreement between the partners. This case involved a gay couple where one of the partners was the biological father of a child. "The civil code is not opposed to a mother, as sole holder of the parental authority, delegating all or part of the duties to the woman with whom she lives in a stable and continuous union," the court said in its written verdict. Until now only a biological or adoptive parent had rights when a same-sex couple had a child. This ruling is seen as a strong argument for same-sex marriage, an issue which may soon come to the court.

5. On 2-20-07 France's highest court ruled that the partner of a gay mom cannot adopt the child. The court said there is nothing in the law to permit same-sex couples to be co-parents. In its ruling the court said that there are only two ways the partner would be allowed to be considered a parent to the child. The first would be for the child's mother, who gave birth to the baby, to renounce her parental rights - something the court said would not be in the child's best interests. The other would be for the government to amend the laws and allow same-sex marriage.

6. On 3-13-07 France's highest court rejected as unlawful the first marriage by a same-sex couple in France, annulling the union of the two men. Stephane Charpin and Bertrand Charpentier were married in a civil ceremony on June 5, 2004, in Begles, a town in the southwest Bordeaux region. The government immediately said the union was outside the law, and a series of court decisions unfavorable to the couple followed. In this decision, the court ruled that "under French law, marriage is a union between a man and a woman," backing a 2005 decision by an appeals court in Bordeaux. No other same-sex couple has married in France since Charpin and Charpentier's 2004 union. The couple said after the 2005 appeals court ruling that they would take their case to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary. The lower court that initially rejected the marriage noted that same-sex couples in France are already covered by legislation that grants non-married cohabiting couples of the same or opposite sexes some rights enjoyed by married couples.

 

SPAIN

Laws:

1. Has no sodomy laws, the age of sexual consent is 12 for all, but it bans seduction by deception until age 16.

2. Allows homosexuals in its military.

3. Provides homosexual couples with health care benefits, access to state widower`s pensions, and alimony in the event of a separation.

4. The northern city of Vitoria allows gay couples to register (officially declare their commitment to each other), it will help couples apply for social security and loans, and rent property, it will also serve as proof in legal cases involving pensions and wills, however it does not affect taxes.

5. Aragon and Catalonia have same-sex domestic partner laws, the laws can only recognize the obligations between the individuals involved in a partnership, but cannot regulate the government's relationship with the partnership. There can be support payments by one partner to the other if the couple splits up, but not the government support for a survivor if one member dies that a traditional widow might collect. Unmarried heterosexual couples and same-gender couples are treated the same in most respects under the laws, except that adoption rights are denied to gay and lesbian couples. Couples are defined as two unmarried, unrelated individuals of legal age in a relationship of mutual affection who have lived together for two years, who register with the regional administration.

6. Has a national gay rights law that bans some anti-gay discrimination ,including housing, employment, public services and professional activities.

7. Criminalizes hate and violence against homosexual individuals and organizations with penalties ranging from six months to four years in prison.

8. The state of Navarro allows adoptions by same-gender couples. The law says that couples who enjoy "a free and public union in an affectionate relationship, independent of sexual orientation ... can adopt children with the same rights and duties as those couples united in matrimony."

9. Homosexual people in Spain`s paramilitary national police force, the Guardia Civil, can live with their partners in barracks.

10. Allows same-sex couples the right to marry, adopt children and inherit each other's property, making their legal status the same as that of heterosexual couples. Spain's justice ministry ruled that the country's same-sex marriage law allows marriage to a foreigner regardless of whether that person's homeland recognizes the partnership.

Court:

1. A Spanish court ruled in February 2004 that the same-sex partner of a mother of twins can adopt her children. It was the first time same-sex couples in Spain have been allowed to co-parent. The autonomous regions of the Basque country and Navarre, where the ruling was made, have allowed gays to adopt children since 2000, but has never before heard a case of co-parenting. The one-year-old twin girls had been conceived by artificial insemination.

2. On 7-6-05 a court said a Spanish man can't wed his Indian partner because India does not allow same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia cited an article in the Spanish civil code which says foreign residents seeking to wed Spaniards are bound by the laws of the country where they have citizenship. The Indian man is a resident of Spain but holds an Indian passport. The court's comments – released in a statement prompted by media inquiries, not in a formal ruling - suggest that for the time being at least, gay Spaniards seeking to marry foreigners can only do so with people from a country that allows same-sex marriage.

3. On 7-21-05 a judge in the southern town of Alicante said that Spain's new law legalizing same-sex marriage may violate the Constitution and is asking a higher court to issue a ruling. Judge Laura Alabau made the announcement in refusing to grant a license to a lesbian couple. She said that the law may be struck down because the constitution specifically refers to marriage as between "a man and a woman." Alabau said she based her refusal on article 163 of the Spanish Constitution, which allows judges to file constitutional challenges. The law granting gay and lesbian couples the right to marry altered the definition of marriage in the Civil Code to read "Marriage shall have the same requirements and effects whether both parties are of the same or of the opposite sex." If Spain's Constitutional Court decides to hear the case it has the power to nullify the new law.

4. In October, 2005 a Madrid judge ruled that people in same-sex marriages are entitled to the same widow's pensions as those in traditional marriages. The case involved a gay man who married shortly after Spain legalized same-sex marriage in July. The wedding was held on July 21, but his partner died a month later. The survivor applied for a widow's pension. The court instructed the government to provide the pension under its own marriage law. This was the first instance of a widow's pension being issued to a same-sex spouse in Spain.

 For more details please visit Ilga-Europe`s website.