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Sat, 29 Nov, 2014 12:03:40 AM Thousands of people celebrate the historical law First citizen initiative bill passed in parliament FTimes - Xinhua Report, Nov. 29  Supporters celebrate same-sex marriage law passed by parliament on Friday. Photo – Str / Lehtikuva. Finnish parliament on Friday passed a civil initiative to introduce same sex marriage in Finland.
The vote was 105 in favor and 92 against, a winning margin which was larger than observers had originally predicted.
Homosexuals will be allowed to marry as of March 2017. Once the law takes effect, Finland will become the last of the Nordic countries to grant same sex couples the right to marry. The legal reform will also allow for the adoption of children by same sex parents.
The change to marital laws will not restrict the rights of religious organizations, however, like the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland which does not accept same sex marriage.
In a statement released on Friday, Prime Minister Alexander Stubb underlined the importance of the vote results from a human rights perspective.
The bill was passed by 105 votes to 92. Photo – Str / Lehtikuva. Members of parliament (MPs) were given the freedom to vote on the basis of their conscience. Only True Finns' (the Finns Party) supporters ordered their MPs to vote against the marriage reform. Despite this, one member of the group still voted in favor.
The leading National Coalition Party was severely divided over the issue. In the vote, 28 conservative members of parliament voted in favor while 16 were opposed.
Besides the True Finns, there was also strong opposition among the Centre Party, with the majority of centrist MPs voting against the measure.
Thousands of people, either in favor of or against the reform, demonstrated outside the parliament on Friday.
The parliament's website crashed due to the high volume of people checking voting results online.
Same sex marriage has been a contentious matter in Finnish politics for years. Registered partnerships have been possible since 2002.
Several parties, including the National Coalition Party and the Social Democratic Party, passed party convention resolutions in favor of the issue in 2010.
Huge gathering in support of the bill. Photo Lehtikuva. However, in government's post-election talks over the matter in 2011, the Christian Democrats party said it would refuse to participate in the government if the government introduced same sex marriage legislation.
A same sex marriage bill brought forward in parliament did not yield results in 2013. Later the same year, over 150,000 signatures were collected for a civic initiative. The parliamentary legal committee dismissed the initiative, but the committee was voted down.
This is the first time a civic initiative has lead to legislation in Finland.
As the legal committee has been voted down, the subject will now go to the grand committee and the matter will then be accepted again in the full house in December. No change is expected.
Stubb appealed in favor of the reform earlier this week, while the chairmen of both leading opposition parties, Juha Sipila of the Centre Party and Timo Soini of the True Finns, were publicly against the reform.
Commenting on Finnish national radio, Markku Jokisipila of Turku University's parliamentary research institute said the appeal was unique in Finnish political history. Only immediately after the armistice in 1944 did the then prime minister "tell parliament how to vote."
Several Thousands of people came out gathered in front of the parliament celebrating the parliament decision on the same-sex marriage. More News
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Finland Times
| Friday, 03 May, 2024 |
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