In PHOTOS: GAY marriage...its LEGAL in these nations

While a majority of Indians still struggle with the idea of same-sex relationships, some countries have had laws legalising lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender marriages for more than 10 years.

Other countries, such as the United Kingdom, Brazil and Denmark have offered protection in the form of civil unions. Rediff.com brings you 10 countries that have fully legalised gay marriages.

Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalise gay marriages, on April 1, 2001.

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Belgium was the second country to legalise gay marriage on January 30, 2003, with some restrictions. Originally, Belgium allowed the marriages of foreign same-sex couples only if their country of origin also allowed these unions.

Legislation enacted in October 2004 however, permits any couple to marry in Belgium if at least one of the spouses has lived in the country for a minimum of three months.

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Same-sex marriage in Spain has been legal since July 3, 2005. In 2004, the nation's newly elected social democratic government began a campaign for its legalization, including the right of adoption by same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain on July 3, 2005.

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On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country to legalise same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition.

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Same-sex marriage has been legal in South Africa since the Civil Union Act came into force on 30 November 2006.

The decision of the Constitutional Court in the case of Minister of Home Affairs v Fourie on 1 December 2005 extended the common-law definition of marriage to include same-sex spouses and gave parliament one year to rectify the inequality in the marriage statutes.

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Same-sex marriage became legal in Norway on January 1, 2009, when a gender neutral marriage bill was enacted after being passed by the Norwegian legislature in June 2008.

Norway became the first Scandinavian country and the sixth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage.

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Gay marriage in Sweden has been legal since 1 May 2009, following the adoption of a new, gender-neutral law on marriage by the Swedish parliament on 1 April 2009, making Sweden the seventh country in the world to open marriage to same sex couples nationwide.

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Gay marriage has been legal in Portugal since June 5, 2010. The government of Prime Minister Jose Socrates introduced a bill for legalisation in December 2009; it was passed by the assembly of the republic in February 2010.

The bill was declared legally valid by the Portuguese Constitutional Court in April 2010.

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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Iceland since June 27, 2010. The bill providing a gender-neutral marriage definition was passed by the Icelandic Althing on June 11, 2010.

No members of parliament voted against the bill, and public opinion polls suggest that the bill is very popular in Iceland.

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Same-sex marriage in Argentina has been legal since July 22, 2010.

Argentina became the first country in Latin America and the second in the Americas to allow same-sex marriage nationwide. It is the tenth country to allow same-sex marriage.

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