Short answers, pulled from the story.
Denmark became the first nation in history to legalize a civil union on the 7th of June 1989. This law came into effect on the 1st of October 1989, marking a pivotal moment in global legal history where the state began to recognize relationships that had previously been invisible to the law.
The state of Vermont became the first jurisdiction in the United States to offer civil unions in the year 2000. This decision was born from a landmark court ruling known as Baker v. Vermont, which determined that the state must grant same-sex couples the same rights and privileges accorded to married couples under the law.
As of the 12th of June 2025, Bolivia, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Montenegro, San Marino, and the British territories of Bermuda and Cayman Islands provide civil unions but not marriage for same-sex couples. Austria, Belgium, and France have gender-neutral civil unions that are open to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
Denmark replaced its registered partnership law with a same-sex marriage law on the 15th of June 2012. Norway followed suit in 2009, while Sweden and Iceland did the same in 2009 and 2010 respectively.
The first registered partnership between two men in Denmark was registered on the 7th of February 2011. This followed a bill that gave same-sex couples in registered partnerships the right to adopt jointly, which took effect on the 1st of July 2010.