ICELAND: Law on allowing same-sex partners to get married passed in a vote which met with no political resistance

Record ID: 277142

  • Title: ICELAND: Law on allowing same-sex partners to get married passed in a vote which met with no political resistance
  • Date: 12th June 2010
  • Summary: REYKJAVIK, ICELAND (JUNE 11, 2010) (REUTERS) PARLIAMENT BUILDING ICELANDIC FLAG ON PARLIAMENT BUILDING PARLIAMENT, MAIN HALL PARLIAMENT MAIN DEBATE HALL MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT AT PODIUM VOTING BOARD SQUARE IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT BUILDING AND CATHEDRAL SVANFRIDUR LARUSDOTTIR, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL QUEER ORGANIZATION
  • Embargoed: 27th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iceland
  • Country: Iceland
  • Topics: Legal System,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8NG7WVUM0AXHKM881HVS9H7OC
  • Story Text: Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday (June 11) allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance.
    The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman", in addition to unions between men and women.
    "Of course we are all very happy, that's the first emotion of course and thankful to the Icelandic nation, as we now sit on the same bench as the nations in the world that are in front in human rights, so that's the first thing that comes to mind, gratitude," said Svanfridur Larusdottir who is president of the national queer organization.
    Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when social democrat Johanna Sigurdadottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.
    The prime minister's sexual orientation garnered far more interest among foreign media than in Iceland, where the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades.
    "Of course we have to see what the church does, we know that there are some voices inside that community that are not so happy as we and all the others about these changes but that doesn't scare me, they will of course eventually be educated and follow the big group of priests that are happy with me today," said Larusdottir.
    Iceland's protestant church has yet to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages in church, although the law says that "ministers will always be free to perform (gay) marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to".
    The largely protestant countries of northern Europe, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, have all endorsed some form of civil union between same-sex couples, but the issue creates more controversy in Mediterranean Catholic nations.
    In the United States, gay marriage remains a frought political issue, with laws varying widely from state to state. Vermont was the first state to allow same-sex civil unions in 1999, followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut and others.
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