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
Recognition of same-sex unions in Israel by the Gay Fathers Association. Same-sex marriages solemnised overseas are not recognised by religious authorities in Israel. Despite the fact that same-sex marriage (or opposite-sex civil marriage) is not legal in Israel, unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples have equal access to many of the rights of marriage in the form of unregistered cohabitation status, similar to common-law marriage. In February 2009, MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) introduced a civil marriage bill which included provisions for same-sex marriages. The bill was rejected in May 2012 in a 39 to 11 vote, with 70 not attending. In March 2010, the Knesset passed the