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
Status of same-sex marriage marriages and any other legal recognition of same-sex couples in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico failed in 2008. Puerto Rico already banned same-sex marriage by statute. Same-sex marriage is still not performed in American Samoa, an unorganized territory of the U.S. The application of the U.S. Supreme court decision to the territory is unclear and has not been challenged. Several Native American tribes have also legalized same-sex marriage. Those are: Uruguay became the first country in South America to allow civil unions (for both opposite sex and same-sex couples) on 1 January 2008. Children can be adopted by same-sex