The Race Is On

Suddenly, same-sex marriage is in the offing for a whole slew of countries.

France:

France’s prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told parliament today that gay couples will be permitted to marry and adopt children in 2013.

Mr Ayrault was making a keynote speech setting out the socialist government’s five-year political and social agenda.

“In the first half of 2013, the right to marriage and adoption will be open to all couples, without discrimination,” he said.

“Our society is evolving, lifestyles and mentalities are changing. The government will respond to that.”

Scotland:

The government will bring forward legislation that would allow gay couples to marry in civil ceremonies and religious ceremonies where faiths choose to permit it. The majority of MSPs have pledged to support such a change in the law.

The law would make Scotland the first part of the UK to allow gay couples to wed and would remove the need for trans people to divorce and form civil partnerships if they transition while married.

Australia (or at least, Tasmania):

“We will be leading the way for the rest of Australia to follow,” [Premier Lara] Giddings, 39, told a ruling state Labor Party conference in Hobart on Aug. 4, vowing to make the change this term. “There are nations across the world who have already taken this step, some of whom that you would not believe would have done this in advance of a nation like our own.”

Uruguay:

Uruguay is expected to debate legislation which would legalize gay marriage before the end of the year.

Paul Maqueira of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) told El Pais that an initial draft of the measure had already been prepared.

“The idea is to promote a marriage equality project so that gay couples have equal access to marriage as heterosexuals,” he said.

Maqueira declined to say when the proposal might reach lawmakers but said he felt this would happen “before the end of the year.”

The move comes a week after a court in Uruguay for the first time recognized the legal marriage of a gay couple.

And -- Vietnam?

Communist Vietnam is considering legalising same-sex marriage, which would catapult it to the fore of gay rights in Asia, where traditional values dominate many societies and sodomy is illegal in some.

While homosexuality was once viewed as a "social evil" in the authoritarian nation, it is slowly shedding its taboo status.

In the most visible sign yet of change, about 100 cyclists waving rainbow flags pedalled through Hanoi on Sunday for Vietnam's first ever gay pride parade, shouting: "We support same-sex marriage".

Next year, lawmakers in the one-party state are set to amend the country's marriage legislation and the justice minister said recently they would consider including same-sex couples in the law for the first time.

Granted, Vietnam is kind of iffy, because Asia in general is very conservative on gay rights, but still -- puts it way ahead of Texas.

Here's the list to date, in chronological order:

Netherlands (2001)
Belgium (2003)
Spain (2005)
Canada (2005)
South Africa (2006)
Norway (2009)
Sweden (2009)
Portugal (2010)
Iceland (2010)
Argentina (2010)
Denmark (2012)
Mexico (recognized nation-wide, only performed in Mexico City)
Nepal (ordered by the courts, but not yet in law)
Japan (recognizes marriages of citizens performed in other countries, no marriages performed in Japan)

OK -- Did I miss anyone?