Same-sex marriage 2010 upon promulgation by the Argentine President. Argentina thus became the first country in Latin America, the second in the Americas, and the tenth in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. Australia became the second nation in Oceania to legalise same-sex marriage when the Australian Parliament passed a bill on 7 December 2017. The bill received royal assent on 8 December, and took effect on 9 December 2017. The law removed the ban on same-sex marriage which previously existed and followed a voluntary postal survey held from 12 September to 7 November 2017, which returned a 61.6% "Yes" vote for
Same-sex marriage in South Africa marry 230 to 41, which was subsequently approved by the National Council of Provinces on 28 November in a 36 to 11 vote, and the law came into effect two days later. South Africa was the fifth country, the first (and only, ) in Africa, the first in the southern hemisphere, the first republic, and the second outside Europe to legalise same-sex marriage. South Africa was the first country in the world to safeguard sexual orientation as a human right in its Constitution. Both the Interim Constitution, which came into force on 27 April 1994, and the final Constitution, which