Iceland legalises gay marriage

Carsinian Thau

Zero opposition! May it be the first of many.

From Reuters. (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65A3V020100611).

Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday 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.

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 Sigurdardottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.

"The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial."

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, Kristinsson added.

Iceland's protestant church has yet to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages in church, although the law says "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.

baby and crumble

Iceland rocks.

Canard

Hopefully other countries will follow!

Iwasfrozen

Agreed, well done Iceland. I really like the way ministers are not obliged to perform the marraige if they don't want to.

MultiUmm

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Agreed, well done Iceland. I really like the way ministers are not obliged to perform the marraige if they don't want to.

As a gay person myself I actually wholeheartedly agree with this idea.

A lot of the fear about gay marriage is that people think churches will be forced to marry all couples or face penalties. A system like this, where ministers choose whether or not to works out much better for everyone.

What I've always argued for and what's by far the most important is that the state recognises married same sex couples and gives them the same rights as heterosexuals, not like the two-tier system that we have in Ireland. :rolleyes:

If churches choose to recognise and condone these marriages as well, then kudos to them. I wouldn't be getting worked up over it though and I doubt many others would either.

Aoifums

Awsome

And with no opposition! Wowsies

Poly

Hopefully this will please the volcano Gods.

Roro4Brit

Me and the OH are heading there next Sunday, we're returning on the 26th which is the day before it's officially legal....looks like we'll have to wait til the Irish government pulls the finger out :P

I believe Iceland now has absolute equality for gay people in all area's of life - marriage, adoption, the lot! Go Iceland!

Poly

It's mucho expensive up there, have the reception at home!

biko

Sigurdardottir got married last week.

L1011

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Agreed, well done Iceland. I really like the way ministers are not obliged to perform the marraige if they don't want to.

Thats because they're religious marriages they're talking about, and they haven't even decided if they'll allow religious ministers to perform them *at all*.

The state here isn't going to require religious orders to perform civil partnerships or marriages when that eventually happens anyway, but they ARE going to require CIVIL SERVANTS in registry offices to DO THEIR JOB.