Same-sex marriage in Belgium has been legal since 1 June 2003. A bill for the legalization of same-sex marriages was passed by the Senate on 28 November 2002, and by the Chamber of Representatives on 30 January 2003. It entered into force on 1 June, after King Albert II gave his royal assent. 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, has been available since 1 January 2000. Statutory cohabitation In 1995, a bill was introduced in the Federal 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 98–10 vote with 32 abstentions and the Senate by a 39–8 vote with 19 abstentions. The Act establishing statutory cohabitation, also known as the Act of 23 November 1998, gives limited rights to registered same-sex and opposite-sex couples by amending certain provisions of the Belgian Civil Code and the Belgian Judicial Code. However, being a couple is not a requirement to make a declaration of statutory cohabitation; relatives can do so too. The law was legally published on 12 January 1999 but would not go into effect until 1 January 2000 (see below). Statistics From 2000 to 2014, 698,395 people reported being in a statutory cohabitation. In 2014, same-sex couples accounted for 3.2% of all unions. Since 2010, the number of newly-established statutory cohabitations has remained relatively constant at around 40,000 new unions per year, almost the same as the number of new marriages per year. In 2019, 40,801 new unions were established (compared to 44,270 marriages) and 26,301 unions were dissolved (compared to 22,435 divorces). Same-sex marriage History Same-sex marriage has been legal in Belgium since 1 June 2003, making it the second country in the world to open marriage to same-sex couples, after the Netherlands, and 9 days ahead of the Canadian province of Ontario. Legislation to grant marriage rights to same-sex couples was passed by both chambers of the Federal Parliament in November 2002 and January 2003 with the support of most political parties, and received royal assent on 13 February 2003. In Belgian public discourse, same-sex marriage is commonly known