Finland Approves Gay Marriage
Helsinki
Same-sex couples are set to receive full marriage rights in Finland after the Nordic country’s parliament backed a much-debated legislative proposal on Friday.
The proposal—expected to be enacted into law by the end of 2015—will grant same-sex couples the same marriage and adoption rights as the Finnish law now affords heterosexual couples.
Finland’s 200-seat parliament approved the proposal by 105 votes to 92, capping a period of heated campaigning which clogged the email accounts of parliamentary deputies and aroused strongly voiced commentary from both sides of the argument.
Finland's Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, left, hugs the country’s first openly gay MP Jani Toivola after the vote. REUTERS
“I am very happy that the parliament has today said ‘I do’ to an equitable marriage law,” Finland’s center-right Prime Minister Alexander Stubb told reporters shortly after the parliamentary vote.
Mr. Stubb has actively supported same-sex marriage and on the eve of the vote he publicly pleaded to members of parliament to vote in favor of the proposal—an unusual move for a sitting prime minister in Finland.
Same-sex couples have been able to register their partnership formally in Finland since 2002 in an arrangement that has granted them many of the same rights and obligations that come with traditional marriage under the Finnish law.
However, Finland has been lagging its Nordic peers and many other Western nations in giving full marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples.
Mr. Stubb said the proposed new law will now put Finland “on par with the other Nordic countries and Western [nations].”
‘I am very happy that the parliament has today said ‘I do’ to an equitable marriage law.’
The proposal was put to parliament through a so-called citizens’ initiative. In Finland, if a citizen or a group of citizens gather 50,000 signatures for a legislative proposal, the parliament has to take it up for consideration.
Backers of the proposal came predominantly from urban areas and were younger people and its opponents represented more conservative rural and elderly people.
“I feel great,” said Silvia Modig, a member of parliament who voted for the proposal and represents the Left Alliance party. “Even though I am openly homosexual, this was no personal mission to me. This was foremost an equal protection issue. We are now legalizing and recognizing something that already exists in the society.”
Police estimated that about 6,000 supporters of the proposal had gathered outside Finland’s parliament, erupting in cheers after the vote’s result was announced.
Inside the parliament, Pentti Oinonen, a member of parliament who had voted against the bill, was downcast.
“I am disappointed. This is bad for Finland and bad for our values. I had hoped that in this issue, Finland would have not followed the crowd,” said Mr. Oinonen, who represents the predominantly socially conservative The Finns Party.
Juhana Rossi at juhana.rossi@wsj.com
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