On April 1, 2009, a broad majority of the Swedish Parliament voted in support of a bill to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage. The proposal was approved by a 261 to 22 vote, with 16 abstentions. The new legislation took effect as of May 1, 2009, replacing the legislation approved in 1995 that allowed gay couples to form a union in Sweden via registered partnership. Couples who have registered partnership can keep that status or amend it to a marriage by an application to the authorities. On October 22, 2009, the Church of Sweden's board voted to allow priests to wed same-sex couples using the term ‘marriage.’

On June 11, 2008, members of Parliament in Norway approved a gender-neutral bill that ended the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage by a vote of 84-41. Family Issues minister Anniken Huitfeldt noted, "The new law won't weaken marriage as an institution. Rather, it will strengthen it. Marriage won't be worth less because more can take part in it." The Scandinavian country had already allowed gay and lesbian couples to enter into civil partnerships but realized that such partnerships did not provide equality. The law was backed by the ruling red-green coalition of the Labour Party, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left Party, as well as members of the opposition Conservatives and Liberals. Socialist Left Party leader Kristin Halvorsen, also finance minister, said the bill was for "equal rights" and against all forms of discrimination.

In December 2005, the Constitutional Court of South Africa ruled that denying marriage to same-sex couples violates the country's constitution and gave the Parliament one year to adjust laws to comply with the ruling. The court also made it clear enacting only a civil unions law would not work. On November 14, 2006, Parliament voted, 230 to 41, to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in South Africa, making the nation the first in Africa to do so.

On June 28, 2005, the House of Commons in Canada passed the Civil Marriage Act, which was then passed by the Senate on July 19. The Civil Marriage Act, which received Royal Assent on July 20, provided a gender-neutral definition of marriage. The national legislation passed after more than three quarters of Canadian provinces and territories legalized same-sex unions. Since marriage laws in Canada do not have residency requirements, same-sex couples who travel from the United States to Canada may also get married there. Canadian leaders adamantly supported full marriage, as opposed to civil union legislation, saying that they recognized the importance of full equality. Canada's Prime Minister at the time, Paul Martin, explained, "We've come to the realization that instituting civil unions — adopting a 'separate but equal' approach — would violate the equality provisions of the [Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms].”

After the unexpected victory of the Spanish Socialist Party in 2004, the newly elected Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, moved to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in the country. Despite serious opposition from the Catholic Church, a majority of Spaniards supported the measure, and the Parliament voted 187 to 147 in favor of the freedom to marry. The law states that at least one partner must be a Spanish citizen in order to legally marry, although it also allows couples to marry if they have legal residence in Spain. Following passage and enactment in 2005, Zapatero's said: "We were not the first, but I am sure we will not be the last. After us will come many other countries, driven ... by two unstoppable forces: freedom and equality." In July 2012, after some speculation about repealing the freedom to marry from Spain's new president, the country's Constitutional Court reaffirmed that the freedom to marry was constitutional and ruled that it could not be repealed.

Belgium became the second country to legalize equal marriage on February 13, 2003, when King Albert II approved the bill, which had previously been passed by the Senate and Chamber of Representatives. Without fanfare, 91 of the 122 deputies in the Belgian Parliament voted for the change, which stipulates that only couples from countries with the freedom to marry can be married under Belgian law. Initially, gay and lesbian couples were not allowed to adopt children under the original legislation, but Parliament passed co-parenting for same-sex couples in 2006.

The Netherlands was the first country to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage in 2001, when their Parliament voted 107-33 to eliminate discrimination from their marriage laws. The law requires that at least one member of the couple be a Dutch national or live in the Netherlands, and it took effect on April 1, 2001. Anne-Marie Thus, a Dutch lesbian who married in 2001, explains, "It's really become less of something that you need to explain. We're totally ordinary. We take our children to preschool every day. People know they don't have to be afraid of us." In December 2012, the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba also established the freedom to marry.