282 articles
Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy
Recognition of same-sex unions in Italy: civil unions (unioni civili) under the Cirinnà law 76/2016, in force 5 June 2016, following Constitutional Court judgment 138/2010 and ECtHR Oliari v. Italy (2015); no same-sex marriage, adoption excluded, 2,936 unions in 2024.
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Indiana)
Indiana RFRA (Senate Bill 101, Ind. Code 34-13-9), signed by Governor Mike Pence March 26, 2015, effective July 1, 2015: imposes strict scrutiny on government burdens of religious exercise and, unlike the federal RFRA, applies in private litigation; amended April 2, 2015 amid national backlash.
Religious views on same-sex marriage
Survey of religious positions on same-sex marriage across Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, with US and global opinion data, denominational splits, and legal conscience protections.
Respect for Marriage Act
The Respect for Marriage Act (Public Law 117-228, H.R. 8404), signed December 13, 2022, repeals DOMA, requires interstate and federal recognition of same-sex and interracial marriages, and adds religious-liberty protections, but does not require states to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Rise Up Australia Party
Rise Up Australia Party (RUAP), also called RUA, was an Australian far-right Christian party led by pastor Daniel Nalliah, registered 2012 and deregistered 2019, known for its anti-Islam, anti-multiculturalism slogan "Keep Australia Australian".
Romantic friendship
Romantic friendship: historically documented same-sex bonds, passionate, intense, and sometimes sexual, common in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe and America; related to the Boston marriage and debated against lesbian identity categories.
Romantic orientation
Romantic orientation: enduring pattern of romantic attraction by partner gender, distinct from sexual orientation. Includes aromantic, biromantic, heteroromantic, panromantic labels; heavily documented in asexual and aromantic-spectrum community research.
Rubén Díaz Sr.
Rubén Díaz Sr. (born 1943), Bronx Pentecostal minister and conservative Democrat; New York State Senator 2003–2017 and NYC Council member; led opposition to same-sex marriage and lost the 2020 NY-15 primary to Ritchie Torres.
Salvatore Cordileone
Salvatore Joseph Cordileone (born 1956, San Diego) is the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco since 2012, former USCCB marriage-defense chairman, Proposition 8 fundraiser, and 2026 appointee to the Vatican's Apostolic Signatura.
Same-sex adoption in the United States
Same-sex adoption in the United States, also called LGBT or gay adoption, is legal nationwide for married couples after Obergefell (2015) and the 2017 Supreme Court ruling, though religious-exemption laws and second-parent adoption restrictions persist in some states.
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also called marriage equality or gay marriage, is legally recognized marriage between same-sex couples, first national law in the Netherlands April 1, 2001, now legal in 39 countries and a US constitutional right since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015).
Same-sex marriage debate in literature
The same-sex marriage debate in literature is the body of essays, books, and law review articles arguing for and against same-sex marriage, chiefly from 1989 onward.
Same-sex marriage in Bermuda
Same-sex marriage in Bermuda: legal May 2017 to June 2018, then banned by the Domestic Partnership Act 2018, upheld by the Privy Council in 2022; domestic partnerships and pre-2022 marriages remain recognized.
Same-sex marriage in Canada
Same-sex marriage in Canada has been legal nationwide since the Civil Marriage Act (Bill C-38), royal assent July 20, 2005, making Canada the fourth country after the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain; provincial court rulings under the Charter began in Ontario in 2003.
Same-sex marriage in Mexico
Same-sex marriage (matrimonio igualitario) in Mexico: legal in all 32 states since Tamaulipas's October 2022 vote, starting with Mexico City in December 2009, upheld and extended by Supreme Court rulings in 2010, 2012 and 2015.
Same-sex marriage in Taiwan
Same-sex marriage in Taiwan, legalized 24 May 2019 under the Act implementing Constitutional Court Interpretation No. 748, made Taiwan the first in Asia; extended to cross-national couples (2023), adoption (2023), and cross-strait couples (2024).
Same-sex marriage in the Cayman Islands
Same-sex marriage is not legal in the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, but the Civil Partnership Law 2020 gives same-sex couples unions with rights equivalent to marriage.
Same-sex marriage in the United States
Same-sex marriage in the United States, also called marriage equality, is legal nationwide since Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), after Hawaii's 1993 ruling, state and federal DOMAs, Massachusetts (2003), and Windsor (2013).
Same-sex marriage in tribal nations in the United States
Same-sex marriage in tribal nations in the United States is governed by each tribe's own laws; at least fourteen tribes allow it, since the 2015 Obergefell ruling does not bind tribes.
Same-sex relationship
Same-sex relationship: romantic partnerships between two people of the same sex, also called gay or lesbian relationships. Legal in nearly 40 countries as marriage; research shows similar stability, quality, and child outcomes to different-sex couples.
Section 28
Section 28 (Clause 28, Section 2A) was a 1988 UK law banning local authorities from 'promoting homosexuality', in force until 2000 in Scotland and 2003 in England and Wales; repealed after Stonewall's campaign, never used to prosecute.
Section 377
Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (1860), drafted under Thomas Macaulay, criminalized "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" and spread across British colonies; India's Supreme Court read it down in Navtej Singh Johar (2018), and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita deleted it from 2024.
Sewing Circle (Hollywood)
The Sewing Circle was the informal, allusive name for Hollywood actresses thought to be lesbian or bisexual, roughly the 1910s to 1950s; traced to Alla Nazimova or Marlene Dietrich, popularized by Axel Madsen's 1995 book, with Garbo, Dietrich, and Bankhead named.
Sex assignment
Sex assignment, also called sex designation, is the classification of a newborn as male, female, or other, usually based on external genitalia and recorded on the birth certificate.
Sexual fluidity
Sexual fluidity is situation-dependent flexibility in sexual responsiveness, allowing attractions, identity, or behavior to change over time. Introduced by Lisa Diamond's 2008 study of 100 women, it is distinct from bisexuality and from conversion therapy claims.
Sexual identity
Sexual identity, also called sexual identification, is a person's self-labeling in sexual terms, such as lesbian, gay, or queer, one of three components of sexual orientation alongside attraction and behavior.
Sexual Offences Act 1967
Sexual Offences Act 1967 (1967 c. 60), the UK statute decriminalising private, consensual homosexual acts between men over 21 in England and Wales only, following the Wolfenden Report;Scotland and Northern Ireland followed in 1980-82.
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation: enduring patterns of sexual and emotional attraction, behavior, and identity (lesbian, gay, bisexual, straight). Covers its three dimensions, history, biology, measurement, and global legal treatment.
Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln
Sexuality of Abraham Lincoln: the debate over whether the 16th US president, married to Mary Todd from 1842, had intimate relationships with men, centered on Joshua Speed, bodyguard David Derickson, and C.A. Tripp's 2005 thesis.
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Shirley Phelps-Roper, Westboro Baptist Church spokesperson, daughter of founder Fred Phelps, defendant in Snyder v. Phelps, mother of defectors Megan and Grace, banned from the UK.