Rainbow wedding bells: Denmark allows gay marriage in church

in: http://www.rt.com/news/denmark-same-sex-marriage-church-283/



AFP Photo/Gabriel Bouys



Church bells are now ringing for everyone, with no exceptions, in Denmark as the Parliament has approved a law allowing same-sex couples to get married in church ceremonies.

On Thursday Danish lawmakers voted with 85 in favor and 24 against to change the country’s marriage laws wrapping up years of battle for the rights of gay and lesbian couples. The legislation was passed despite a strong campaign mounted by the far-Right Danish People’s Party.

Denmark's church minister, Manu Sareen, called the vote "historic," saying that “it's very important to give all members of the church the possibility to get married.”

The legislation does not oblige priests to marry same-sex couples, so any minister can refuse. However, in this case the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church.

Karsten Nissen, the Bishop of Viborg, who is refusing to carry out the ceremonies, has warned that the new legislation may cause "splitting the church."

Before the legislation, same-sex couples were only allowed to get married in church during the short blessing ceremonies after the church services.

Once the law takes effect on June 15, Denmark will join countries like Iceland and Sweden that make no distinction between straight and gay couples when it comes to marriage.

It is ironic that Denmark found itself behind its neighbors, as a pioneer in the gay rights country when it was the first in the world to allow the registration of gay partnerships in 1989.


http://www.rt.com/news/denmark-same-sex-marriage-church-283/

Denmark To Legalize Gay Marriage

in: http://www.advocate.com/

Legislation will be introduced early next year with the goal of allowing same-sex couples in Denmark to marry.

According to the Copenhagen Post, the government plans to introduce a bill after the New Year that would allow same-sex couples, who are currently entitled to the civil status of “registered partnerships,” to hold weddings in the Church of Denmark and be considered “married” under the law.

“The first same-sex weddings will hopefully become reality in Spring 2012. I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I’ll be standing out there throwing rice,” said church minister Manu Sareen to the local Jyllands-Posten newspaper, according to the Post.

The proposal from the center-left government angered some local religious leaders. Others asked whether church employees, whose salaries are paid by taxes in Denmark, would be forced to marry same-sex couples. Sareen said that church employees opposed to the new law would be accommodated.

“Lots of people are mistaken in thinking that homosexual weddings are just the next step after female priests,” said Henrik Højlund, the parish priest for Løsning and Korning and chairman for the Evangelical Lutheran Network (ELN). “But it is much more consequential and beyond the boundaries for normal Christianity.”

Civil unions between same-sex partners became legal in Denmark in 1989. Recent polls show that almost 70% of the population supports allowing same-sex couples to marry in the church.