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
LGBT rights in Croatia referendum had taken place at all, saying, "I think it did not make us any better, smarter or prettier." On 1 March 2013, the Minister for Science, Education and Sports, Željko Jovanović, announced that his ministry would begin an action to remove all homophobic content from books used in both elementary and high schools. He wanted to especially target religious education books (religious education in Croatian schools is an optional course). On 11 May 2012, Milanović announced a further expansion to the rights of same-sex couples through a new law which would replace the existing unregistered cohabitation legislation. The Sabor