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Thanks for the examples, you're right that I shouldn't have been quite so strong in my assertion to imply there were no counterexamples. I would maintain though that the very small number of them (two highlighted out of I think forty? countries in Europe) does demonstrate that is has mostly been via public debate.
Sorry if I'm being obtuse, but I don't understand this argument - legislation is the way in a democratic society for the will of the masses to be implemented, as it's instituted by parliaments comprised of elected representatives. The criticism of human rights frameworks is that they subvert the will of the populous by superseding the legislation enacted by their representatives (e.g. courts such as the European Court of Human Rights overturning legislation enacted by the government).
I feel like we're wandering a bit here into the issue of the legitimacy of government regulation, which my post wasn't addressing - my intent was to point out a pretty clear counterexample to the idea that all the cultural changes in the past few decades have been implemented without being subject to votes.
Briefly, though, whether one approves of it or not, marriage has been regulated by government for centuries (the earliest marriage act in England going back to the 1750s). It's a well defined legal instrument, which is tied in with other well defined legal instruments (such as inheritance, powers of attorney, etc.) As such, the rights (and obligations) of marriage cannot be granted by arbitrary institutions.
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