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 Italy Francesco De Luca) attempted to act independently and submitted legislation to the Parliament. A proposed private member's bill called DiDoRe ("DIritti e DOveri di REciprocità dei conviventi", English: "Mutual rights and duties for cohabiting partners") was introduced, but was unsuccessful. If it had been adopted, it would only have been akin to "unregistered cohabitation", as it did not provide for a public registry system. The Monti Government did not enact any legislation recognising same-sex relationships. There were, however, a number of significant developments in the Italian judicial system. In 2009, a same-sex couple from Venice sued the local administration for