Denmark approves gay weddings in church

8 Jun 2012, 10:46 am   -   Source: AFP
Share This
0 
+ Comment
5
Denmark has long been at the forefront of gay rights, and in 2009 homosexuals in the Scandinavian country were also given the right to adopt children. (AAP)

Denmark has long been at the forefront of gay rights, and in 2009 homosexuals in the Scandinavian country were also given the right to adopt children. (AAP)

Denmark, a pioneer in gay rights, saw its parliament vote overwhelmingly in favour of allowing homosexuals to marry in the state Evangelical Lutheran Church.

RELATED

Denmark, a pioneer in gay rights, on Thursday saw its parliament vote overwhelmingly in favour of allowing homosexuals to marry in the state Evangelical Lutheran Church.
  
The bill presented by Denmark's centre-left government earlier this year passed with 85 votes in favour and 24 opposed, with two abstaining and the rest of the 179-seat house absent.
  
Denmark was the first country in the world to allow gay couples to enter into civil unions in 1989, and homosexuals have since been given the right to receive a church blessing for their unions, but Thursday's vote sealed their right to have a full marriage ceremony in church.
  
Pastors in the state church will however not be obliged to marry homosexual couples if they feel it goes against their personal beliefs, according to an annex to the bill.
  
Denmark has long been at the forefront of gay rights, and in 2009 homosexuals in the Scandinavian country were also given the right to adopt children.
  
Danish Minister for Ecclesiastical Affairs Manu Sareen, who initiated Thursday's legislation, said she was thrilled it had passed.
  
"This is equality between couples of the same gender and couples of different genders. A major step forward," she told reporters following the vote.
  
The only party to vote against the bill as a whole was the populist Danish People's Party, which maintained that marriage in Christian terms was between a man and a woman and that the Church should not be forced to make a religious marriage ceremony available for homosexual couples.
  
The Christian Democratic Party, which is no longer in parliament, meanwhile announced Thursday it aimed to initiate a class action suit against the new law, which is set to go into effect on June 15, saying it was an infringement on the right to free religious belief and was thus unconstitutional.
  
Per Oerum Joergensen, a former member of parliament for the Christian Democrats, told the Politiken daily he had seen a recent poll showing "that some 440,000 members of the Church were considering renouncing their membership because of all this."
  
"They will be able to join the suit against the state," he said.
  
Around 80 percent of Danes, or around 4.5 million people, are today members of the state church.

Gay Marriage

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube

Your Comments

No separation between Church and State is bad news...

Jonathan Hili - from Melbourne, 2 months ago

Since the Danish Church are part of the State apparatus, I suppose they have no real say in the matter. Here is a good example why the Church should not be intertwined with the State. Unlike theocracies, which are few and far between, government tyranny over religious institutions is very much still alive. My prayers go out to Danish Christians and I know the Church there has some real hard times ahead. I hope all Christians are in solidarity with them to oppose this government legislation.

Terminology

Peter - from Geelong, 11 months ago

Marriage. A religious institution based on the story of our origin: humanity created by God. He created them male and female for various reasons. One was to procreate because they are biologically compatible. This biblical institution of marriage focuses on a "creative" human family who are created in God's image: compatible, able to create. No even from a biological point of view, gay marriage is an oxymoron. So why do they want it if it goes totally against what God created? I have a bad feeling...as in the past, when the level of morality decreased and various sexual perversions became common practice in the Roman Empire, it's power, strength and glory started vanishing. Why? Because a heterosexual family which can give the next generation for the country, the smallest unit of society became endangered. I wonder if the same will happen again soon...

This is great news - gay equality

Stan James - from Baltimore , USA, 12 months ago

This is wonderful -real equality for gay people, recognition of their love and committment AS for the expected 440 000 that will leave the church, great . Less power for religion, and less money. Most people in Europe have little use fo a superstion based on ignorance. Denmark joins most of W Europe and half of Latin America with equality,

Why would a gay want this? a " church" wedding

Mona - from Australia, 12 months ago

The Christian Bible and Koran state unequivocally, in Levictus, the only reference to homsexualtiy. " they shall be put to death. The word of God doesn't say disapprove, or even accept. If this is disobeyed what part of the word of God, these books, is truthful and to be adhered to? An extraordinary situation for a homosexual to embrace a God that wants them put to death! Is it because children are indoctinated from a very young age or is it the clergy, flagrantly disobeying their God?

Another day, another SBS gay entitlement article

mike j - from , 12 months ago

Another SBS comments section retrospectively deleted?

Join the Discussion

Name
City / Suburb E.g. Artarmon, Sydney
Title
Comment
You have characters remaining.
Validation
What's this?
This is a captcha-picture. It is used to prevent mass-access by robots.
All submitted comments become the property of SBS. They are moderated, so we reserve the right to edit comments and remove HTML tags. Not all submitted comments will be published. Publication does not mean we endorse the opinions expressed. Please read our terms and conditions for more information.