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Toward A Eurpoen model of Same-Sex Marriage Rights was written in attempt to assess the United States' ability to follow the pathways pursued by Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and Sweden. Christy Glass states that while these countries very in terms of political culture and gay rights histories, they have each granted full marriage rights to same sex couples within the last decade. However, Denmark made the major headway in 1989 when the registered partnership law became the first one introduced at a national level in any country around the globe (Glass 141). Since 1989, several other countries followed the Danish recognition, representing a political commitment to same-sex partnerships, and making a major step towards full equality. And while these laws provide some social and political rights, the domestic partnership laws don't grant the same "socio-cultural recognition and economic benefits as legal marriage (Glass 142). However, there is a theory of expansion of minority rights, which considers the political process directly. In order to achieve same-sex marriage rights, there are political contextual factors necessary such as: "the presence of strong LGBT organizations at the national level, weak political opposition, the existence of favorable international models, a ruling government that views LGBT human rights as legitimate- (Glass 167). The countries in the article vary in terms of the LGBT movement. "While Sweden had a strong, well organized national level movement, Spain's movement was relatively scattered and weak- (Glass 167). The strength of political opposition also varied from country to country while in Spain the mobilized opposition was well organized and powerful, the case in Sweden and the Netherlands was rather weak. But based on the concept of policy evolution, advancements such as full same-sex marriage can only be achieved after small policies are put in place.
