... well, homosexual couples have legal rights in adoption and fertility matters. Whereas before when birth certificates allowed only a mother and father's name, today both parents can have their names on the certificate, even if they are of the same sex. Instead of mother and father, the certificate now says parent twice, the Netherlands, also considered equalitarian in homosexual matters, was the first country to legally recognize marriages between same-sex couples. All legal rights and benefits afforded to opposite-sex couples are given to same-sex ones as well as ability to adopt (class notes). Homosexual couples still do encounter stigma attached to their way of life, however with growing support at the governmental level have allowed them to receive equal, or close to, status within our society. In spite of this, barriers, legal and social, still exist in many parts of the world. In Australia, according to surveys done, the ...

See this essay or coursework document in full right now