as of 2019 same-sex marriage is legal in 28 countries: argentina, australia, austria, belgium, brazil, canada, colombia, denmark, ecuador, finland, france, germany, greenland, iceland, ireland, luxembourg, malta, mexico, the netherlands, new zealand, norway, portugal, south africa, spain, sweden, taiwan, the united kingdom, the united states and uruguay. however six countries have the death penalty for same-sex sexual acts: iran, saudi arabia, yemen, nigeria (the northern states), sudan and somalia (jubaland region. the death penalty is a possible punishment in six other countries: afghanistan, brunei, mauritania, pakistan, qatar and the united arab emirates.