On July 20, 2005,
Canada became the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside
Europe, to legalize
same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the
Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition. Court decisions, starting in 2003, had already legalized same-sex marriage in eight out of ten
provinces and one of three territories, whose residents comprised about 90% of Canada's population. Before passage of the Act, more than 3,000 same-sex couples had already married in those areas. Most legal benefits commonly associated with
marriage had been extended to cohabiting same-sex couples since 1999.