Since March 1, Finland finally allows same-sex couples to marry, bringing to fourteen the number of European countries with marriage equality laws.
While Scandinavian neighbors Sweden and Norway, along with Iceland, had passed same-sex marriage legislation in 2009 and 2010 respectively, Finland took a more complicated path and did likewise only in 2014, with its conservative parties blocking the measure several times previously.
In September 2016, the Finnish parliament overwhelmingly approved the final legislative measure required to legalize marriage equality. The law allowing homosexual couples to convert civil unions into full-fledged marriages takes effect today.
14 European countries have now embraced marriage equality, among 27 which provide for some form of same-sex registration of partnerships. These include Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
For now, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland are exceptions, although opinion polls show a majority of people in these countries are in favour of equal marriage rights.
Most Finns support same-sex marriage
Parson James liked and retweeted this post, thanks man!
ReplyDelete