Same-sex union legislation legislation of unregistered cohabitation was introduced in the Netherlands in June 1979. However, the first substantial recognition of same-sex couples didn't occur before the introduction of a new legal form, that of registered partnerships, which was first enacted in Denmark in June 1989. Many countries have followed with similar legislation since then. Legislation of these forms of legal unions still occur with a variety of different names, even after the introduction of same sex marriage, although sometimes they are overwritten by subsequent legislation of same-sex marriage. There are currently seventeen countries that have an alternative form of legal recognition other
Same-sex marriage in Oklahoma which bans same-sex marriage and any "legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups". Several same-sex couples have been issued licenses through the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, a sovereign nation within the borders of Oklahoma, since 2013. The Cherokee Nation and the Osage Nation also perform and recognize same-sex marriages. The latter approved the move after a 2017 referendum found majority support for same-sex marriage. On November 3, 2004, the day after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, two lesbian couples, Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, and Susan Barton and Gay Phillips, filed a