Same-sex couples moved closer to being able to marry in the Nordic country of Finland. If parliament passes a law, it would expand marriage equality to 12 European countries.
A dozen years after Finland began offering domestic registered partnerships, today the Finnish parliament voted to consider extending the institution of marriage to same-sex couples. Today’s vote was the result of a very successful citizens’ initiative. The nation of 5.5 million people would be the last Nordic nation to expand marriage. It would join the European countries of  Belgium, much of Denmark, France, Iceland, Luxembourg, much of the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and much of the United Kingdom.
The vote today in parliament was close: 105-92. The law would not become effective until at least 2016.
Same-sex couples also would win the right to jointly adopt children and to share last names.
“Finland should strive to become a society where discrimination does not exist, human rights are respected and two adults can marry regardless of their sexual orientation,†Alexander Stubb, Finland’s centre-right prime minister, stated in an open letter.
“It’s a sign of civic activism and indicates that Finnish law is heading in the same direction as the rest of the Nordics and the Western world on this sensitive and difficult question,” Stubb said.
“The Parliament said, I will, by 105-92. The first step forward in equality. Respect each other,” Prime Minitser Stubb said via Twitter (loose translation via Google Translate.)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated. Reuters and other news outlets misreported today’s vote, which merely directs the Finnish parliament to take up same-sex marriage. It does not allow same-sex marriage, as most media outlets are reporting.
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Image via Wikimedia
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