Australia is a step closer to legalising same-sex marriage after lawmakers passed a bill in the Senate.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The annual festival VietPride 2014 which supports the gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT) will kick off tonight, July 18, in HCM City.

 VietNamNet Bridge – In a setback to the gay community, draft amendments to the Law on Marriage and Family, to be submitted for National Assembly consideration on Tuesday, removed provisions related to recognition of same-sex marriage.

 VietNamNet Bridge – A survey conducted last year of nearly 2,600 Vietnamese families shows that one-third of them support same-sex marriage.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Lawmakers in Viet Nam are considering offering a unilateral visa exemption for foreigners planning to stay in the country for a certain duration of time.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Many gay couples expressed their excitement and planned their weddings after they knew that Decree No. 110 eliminated the same-sex wedding from the ban list.

 VietNamNet Bridge – On Sunday morning, October 27, hundreds of people took part in the "I Do" Festival in front of Hanoi’s Thong Nhat Park to support marriage equality.

Over 3,000 people participated in the campaign to collect signs to support equal marriage in Vietnam, held by the organizations for the community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgenders in Vietnam from September 26 through October 11.

 VietNamNet Bridge - Three days after the campaign "I Do" supporting same-sex marriage was launched, the fanpage “I Do” attracted more than 8,500 likes and thousands of photos and clip with the contents "I do."

 Vietnam will abolish the fine imposed on same-sex marriage from November 11 2013.

VietNamNet Bridge – Viet Nam has made significant progress in accepting and improving the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, but it will take more time to secure the National Assembly's approval for same sex marriages,

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Justice has submitted a draft amended Law on Marriage and Family to the government in which it proposes removing regulations to ban same-sex marriages.  

 In landmark rulings for gay rights, the US Supreme Court struck down a law denying federal benefits to homosexual couples and cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California.

 VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly deputies have confirmed that the legal provisions relating to homosexuals, bisexuals and transgenders need to be discussed in the upcoming session.

VietNamNet Bridge – Same-sex marriage received much attention at the conference to review the implementation of the Law on Marriage and Family, organized by the Ministry of Justice on April 16.

Vice Minister of Health, Mr. Nguyen Viet Tien has proposed to modify the Law on Marriage and Family, in which same-sex marriage is permitted because it is the right to live with the true self, the human rights.

 Uruguay's legislature voted to allow same-sex marriages nationwide, making it only the second Latin American country to do so.

Same sex marriage is a controversial topic in Vietnam, especially when some same-sex weddings were held recently. At this time, when public opinion is relatively "open" for gay marriage, the legal barriers for this should be uninstalled?

VietNamNet Bridge - Over 75 percent of respondents said that the homosexuals have the right to pursue happiness, the right to adoption, but only 36 percent supported same-sex marriage.