Same-sex marriage in Belgium Same-sex marriage in Belgium On 1 June 2003, Belgium became the second country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage, after the Netherlands. "Statutory cohabitation", open to any two legally consenting cohabiting persons, is also possible since 1 January 2000. In 1995, a bill was introduced in Parliament to provide for a legal framework of "cohabitation agreements". It was mostly intended as a response to the lowering marriage rates, rather than giving rights to same-sex couples. In 1998, the bill was changed to "statutory cohabitation" (; ; ) and finally voted on. The Chamber of Representatives approved it by a
Domestic partnership a contractual form of civil union between two adults bringing additional rights and responsibilities, but less so than marriage. Hungary has domestic partnerships, whereas most other nations in Europe recognize some form of civil unions, also called a registered partnership, or civil partnership for same-sex partners, which afford rights similar to marriage to LGBT couples. Croatia also had domestic partnerships until June 2014 when Croatian parliament passed a law allowing civil partnerships for same-sex couples giving them all rights except adoption rights. In Hungary, since 1995 domestic partnership in the form of unregistered cohabitation offers a limited set of rights