New Caledonia
Gay Travel, Life & Culture. Photo Galleries, Stories, Links, News & Reports

New Caledonia is a 'stand alone collectivity' of islands governed by France. It is located in the region of Melanesia in the southwest Pacific. It comprises a main island (Grande Terre), the Loyalty Islands, and several smaller islands. The entire landmass is pproximately half the size of Taiwan.

Since 1986 the United Nations Committee on Decolonization has included New Caledonia on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories. New Caledonia is set to decide whether to remain within the French Republic or become an independent state in a referendum has included New Caledonia on the to be held between 2014 and 2019.

Since the terriory is governed by France, the same gay rights apply to homosexuals in New Caledonia as in France. Homosexuality is legal; civil unions are recognized but gay marriage is not; gays can serve in the military.

In April 2009, the French National Assembly voted to approve the extension of PACS to two French overseas collectivities: New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna. Thus, same-sex and opposite-sex couples in New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna are now able to enter a PACS in the same way as couples in Metropolitan France. Given their autonomous status, these collectivities did not automatically begin performing PACS when they were introduced in Metropolitan France in 1999. Indeed, in other collectivites, such as French Polynesia and Mayotte, PACS cannot yet be performed.