With Delhi High Court legalising gay sex, India On Thursday become the 127th country in the world to de-criminalise homosexuality while 80 nations still consider it as an offence.

The process of legal sanction of homosexual acts began in 1989 when Denmark became the first country to grant a status on par with married couples to same sex partners which was soon followed by other European countries.

Seven years thereafter, Norway, Sweden and Iceland enacted similar legislation in 1996 and Finland followed suit six years later.

Netherlands became the first nation to give full civil marriage rights to gay couples in 2001.
     
Belgium allowed gay marriages in 2003. Spain too legalised full marriages for gay couples in June 2005.

In July 2005, Canada legalised same-sex marriage.
    
New Zealand in 2004 recognised civil union between gay couples as valid and same sex union was recognised in 2005 in South Africa.

The first gay civil union in Argentina took place in 2003, thus making it the first country in Latin America to allow such unions.

In December 2007, neighbouring Nepal's Supreme Court had ordered the government to scrap laws that discriminate against homosexuals.

Other countries were not far behind with Belgium allowing gay marriages in 2003, France giving some rights to cohabiting couples regardless of sex under its law called PACS in 1999 and Spain legalising full marriages for gay couples in 2005.

Not only this, Germany has also allowed same sex couples to register for "life partnership" since 2001.

Several states in the US have passed amendments to their constitution which defined marriage as a union of man and a woman.

Legal history shows that there was even a provision in the 13th and 14th centuries in some countries to burn those alive who indulged in unnatural sexual acts.