The same-sex marriage is legal in England and Wales, after Queen Elizabeth II has given the royal assent to the law.
Last Monday, the same-sex marriage bill passed through the House of Lords, and yesterday it was definitely confirmed by the House of Commons.
Only the royal assent was needed to the bill becomes law and comes into force, and that not be made to wait. Today, the Queen has given her approval to the bill and gay marriages are already legal in England and Wales. It's expected that first gay couples to marry next summer.
Now, about 227 million Europeans out of a population of 736 million (over 30 percent) will live in European states where same-sex marriage is legal. Besides England and Wales, the gay marriage is already legal in Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
A great victory for marriage equality!
Some scenes of joy outside the British Parliament
By Markus Strangl:
ReplyDeleteOne more country won for our cause. YAY GAY!
By Sabeena LoBello:
ReplyDeleteBrilliant! #MarriageEquality for the win! *sniffles*
By Claude A Robinson III:
ReplyDeleteThat is awesome news.
The Queen giving royal assent is just a formality, of course. The Queen has signed every piece of legislation that has come her way. But is is interesting -- her own religion, The Church of England, of which she is head (her title is Supreme Governor) rejects same-sex marriage. Yet her country under her signature approves it. A very interesting turn of events, we have to see how it will play out.
ReplyDeleteBy Dávíd Ben-'Ánáh'gín:
ReplyDeleteWhat about Scotland? It's great for those in England and Wales, but I'm sure there are those in the community in Scotland, no? Scotland usually get left out of things that happen in the UK - it's always England and Wales. I know they have their own autonomous parliament, but they are still in the UK at the moment. Why aren't they included?
In Scotland and Northern Ireland, the regulation of same-sex marriage is a matter of their own assemblies because they have devolved justice powers. On 27 June 2013, the Scottish Government introduced the Marriage and Civil Partnerships Bill in the Scottish Parliament. You can follow the current status of this bill here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/64983.aspx
By Dávíd Ben-'Ánáh'gín:
ReplyDeleteThanks, I wasn't aware of that. The American MSM doesn't cover such news in the UK region.
Northern Ireland is very conservative and will not legalize gay marriage anytime soon.
ReplyDelete