LGBT rights in the Americas
Laws governing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are complex in the Americas, and acceptance of LGBT persons varies widely. Same-sex marriages are currently legal in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, United States and Uruguay. In Mexico, same-sex marriages are recognized nationwide but can be performed only in 26 out of 31 states and in Mexico City, although same-sex marriages have been performed in all states since judges are required to grant injunctions to any couples willing to marry. Among non-independent states, same-sex marriage is also  legal in Greenland, the British Overseas Territories of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, all French territories (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthélemy, French Guiana, Saint Martin, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon), and in the Caribbean Netherlands, while marriages performed in the Netherlands are recognized in Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. More than 700 million people live in nations or sub-national entities in the Americas where same-sex marriages are available. In January 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the American Convention on Human Rights recognizes same-sex marriage as a human  right. However, nine other nations still have criminal punishment for "buggery" on their statute books. These nine countries are Jamaica, Dominica, Barbados, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Guyana, the last of which is on mainland South America and the rest of which are Caribbean islands. They are all former parts of the British West Indies. Religion and LGBT acceptance. The British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonists, who settled most of the Americas, brought Christianity from Europe. In particular, the [Roman Catholic Church] and the Protestants, both of which oppose  legal recognition of homosexual relationships followed by Eastern Orthodox church, the Methodist Church, and some other Mainline (Protestant) denominations, such as the Reformed Church in America and the American Baptist Church, as well as Conservative Evangelical organizations and churches, such as the Evangelical Alliance. The Southern Baptist Convention. Pentecostal churches such as the Assemblies of God, as well as Restorationist churches, like Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, also take the position that homosexual sexual activity is sinful. However, other denominations have become more accepting of LGBT people in recent decades, including the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Evangelical  Lutheran Church in America, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, the Anglican Church of Canada, the United Church of Canada, the United Church of Christ, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the Society of Friends (Quakers), and some congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U. S. A.). Most of these denominations now perform same-sex weddings or blessings. Furthermore, many churches in the United Methodist Church in the US are choosing to officiate and bless same-sex marriage despite denomination-wide restrictions. In addition, in the United States Conservative Judaism, Reform Judaism, and Reconstructionist Judaism now welcome LGBT worshippers and perform same -sex weddings.