FINLAND: Marriage Passage Finalized

Finland today finalized its approval of same-sex marriage.

On the 28th of November, Parliament decided to move ahead with same-sex marriage legislation voting down a decision by the Legal Affairs Committee calling for the rejection of a citizens' initiative bill on gender-neutral marriage. In effect, that vote approved same-sex marriage by 105-92 and referred the bill to committee as the next step in the passage process. On Friday, in a second vote, Parliament gave its approval to the citizens' initiative bill in a vote of 101-90 with one abstention and and 7 MPs absent session. The reform will require wide-ranging changes in other legislation, which will take well over a year to finalise. The law will therefore not take effect until 2016 at the earliest. Finland has allowed registered same-sex partnerships since 2002.

Debate on the bill began back in February after the issue was forced back onto the table by a national petition process. Opponents hope to undo today's action after the next election.

The nationalist Finns Party, the main opposition party in Parliament, is looking to overturn the law before it goes into effect, according to news reports. Their leader, Timo Soini, described parliament's vote to legalize gay marriage as "damaging", saying that "this will be the first time we make it normal for children to be removed from their biological roots." Also in the mix are the upcoming national elections for all 200 seats in Parliament, which are coming up in April 2015 – about 5 months from now. The leader of the religious coalition told us that they believe this vote could have an effect on the election, turning out many more pro-family voters.