FINLAND: Petition Forces Parliament To Reconsider Same-Sex Marriage Vote

Finland's same-sex marriage law, which began as an online petition, is due to come into effect in 2017. But a new petition may undo everything.

A petition in Finland has gathered enough signatures to force parliament to debate reversing the gender-neutral marriage law it passed in November last year. The petition, started by the Association for Real Marriage, reached the required 50,000 signatures at 6pm on Sunday (19 July), Finland’s national broadcaster Yle reported. Under the terms of the citizens’ initiative scheme, the petition still had 2 and a half months to collect signatures. It will now be passed to Finland’s Population Register Center to verify that they are genuine.

RELATED: The European Union currently has 28 members. Same-sex marriage is legal in twelve of them: Belgium, Denmark, Finland (effective 2017), France, Ireland (effective later this year) Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia (effective date pending), Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland.)  Civil unions are legal in seven EU nations: Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia (effective 2016), Germany, Hungary, and Malta. No partnership recognitions exist in nine EU nations: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Non-EU member Norway legalized same-sex marriage in 2009.

FINLAND: What Happens When An HIV+ Man Asks Strangers To Touch Him

Buzzfeed reports:

An HIV-positive man named Janne recently stood on the street next to a sign that read, “I’m HIV-positive, touch me,” to see if the negative stigma attached with HIV/AIDS still exists. The video isn’t in English, but actions speak louder than words. Finnish Broadcasting Company, Yle Kioski, and Janne collaborated to make a video that truly reflected HIV awareness and Pride week in Helsinki. In the experiment, the Finland native stood with his eyes closed and arms out next to the signs, and waited.

(Tipped by JMG reader Treg)

Eurovision 2015: Finland's Entry

Via BBC News:

A punk band made up of men with learning disabilities is to represent Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest. The quartet, named PKN, was chosen by Finnish viewers on Saturday and has now been ranked by bookmakers as among the favourites for the contest. The group, whose members have Down's syndrome and autism, will perform their 85-second song Aina Mun Pitaa (I Always Have To) at the event in Vienna in May. "Every person with a disability ought to be braver," singer Kari Aalto said. "He or she should themselves say what they want and do not want," he told Finnish broadcaster YLE. The group - full name Pertti Kurikan Nimipaivat (Pertti Kurikka's Nameday) - will also become the first punk band to compete at Eurovision. They first got together during a charity workshop and appeared in an award-winning 2012 documentary called The Punk Syndrome.

FINLAND: President Signs Marriage Bill

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö this morning signed his nation's marriage equality bill into law, but marriages will not commence until March 2017.

The signing was an historic occasion also in respect to the fact that this will be the first piece of legislation brought to Parliament as a citizens' initiative and approved as the law of the land. Now that the law has been confirmed by the President, the Justice Ministry will begin the job of revising other national legislation to bring it into line with the concept of gender-neutral marriage. According to officials, various family social and health entitlements will have to be examined and revised, as will the law on the legal status of registered same-sex couples. Revisions are to be submitted to Parliament this coming autumn. Parliament passed the final changes to marriage law to allow same-sex marriage in December. The legislation was based on a citizens' initiative petition signed by 167,000 voters.

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.

Headline Of The Day

Via the Independent:

Thousands of people have resigned from the Lutheran church in Finland after its Archbishop said he rejoiced “with my whole heart” following the government vote to legalise same-sex marriage. According to Finland’s YLE, between the time that the vote went through on Friday and midnight on Saturday almost 7,800 people had resigned from the church using an online system that aims to ease people’s resignation. Each person who resigns their membership also resigns their commitment to pay taxes to the church, which is the Lutheran church’s main source of income in Finland, YLE reports. Comments left by people on the website suggest a sizable portion of the resignations were due to the comments made by the Archbishop of Finland, Kari Makinen. Makinen said on Friday that he supported the decision to legalise same sex marriage, which will see gay and lesbian couples in Finland be able to marry, adopt children and share the same surname, though it will take some time to pass into law. The first gay marriages are expected to take place in 2017.

Nearly 80% of Finns are registered with the Lutheran Church.

Finland Legalizes Gay Marriage

Finland today became the 12th European nation to legalize same-sex marriage. The vote was close. Via the Guardian:

Gay couples in Finland have been able to enter into registered partnerships since 2002, but until now the country was the only in the Nordic region not to allow same-sex marriage. Finland is now the 12th European state to do so. In the vote, 105 members of parliament supported the legal amendment while 92 opposed it. The measure will end the distinction in Finland between same-sex unions and heterosexual marriages and give such couples equal rights to adopt children and share a surname. “Finland should strive to become a society where discrimination does not exist, human rights are respected and two adults can marry regardless of their sexual orientation,” the centre-right prime minister, Alexander Stubb, said in an open letter before the vote.

Debate on the bill began back in February after the issue was forced back onto the table by a national petition process. More from the Finnish press:

The result was a sweet triumph for the thousands of supporters of marriage equality who gathered around the Parliament this afternoon. Many of them waved rainbow-coloured flags and banners. Shouts of "I do!" - the battle cry of the movement - echoed through the streets. Opponents of the measure also turned out for the session, but found themselves vastly outnumbered. Parliamentary Speaker Eero Heinäluoma tightened security ahead of the vote, calling for calm on what has been a polarising subject both inside and outside the chamber. However there were no reports of disruptive behaviour - with one Yle correspondent describing the scene as having a Carnival-like atmosphere. The reform will force 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 partnerships since 2002.

RUSSIA: Anti-Gay Lawmaker Tells Postal Service To Reject Tom Of Finland Stamps

Notorious anti-gay lawmaker Vitaly Milonov has demanded that Russia's postal service refuse to deliver letters that bear the Tom Of Finland stamps recently issued by Finland's government.

Speaking to the TASS news agency, he said: “They are basically elements of homosexual propaganda, which is banned in our country.” “I ask the leadership of Russian Post to pay close attention to this request. In addition, I urge the Finns themselves, our close neighbours, to refrain from using these stamps when sending letters to Russia.” After the stamps went on sale on in September in Finland, Itella reported that it had received pre-orders from 178 countries, and that the range of stamps were the best selling in its history.

Milonov has led numerous anti-gay demonstrations, some of which have resulted in violence against LGBT Russians. If you ordered any of those stamps, maybe you should send Milonov a postcard.

Tom Of Finland Stamps Are A Hit

Finland's postal service reports that sales of its Tom Of Finland stamps are breaking all their records. Via Gay Star News:

Stamps commemorating Finnish gay erotic artist Touko Laaksonen, who published his drawings under the name Tom of Finland, have been the biggest sellers in the history of Finland’s Posti postal service, with people pre-ordering the stamps in 178 countries. The stamps went on sale on Monday, with the biggest overseas orders coming from Sweden, Britain, the United States and France. An exhibition of Tom of Finland’s drawings and letters is being held in Tampere’s new postal museum to coincide with the release of the stamps and there were long queues outside the museum when the stamps began being sold there yesterday. The demand for the stamps has taken the postal service by surprise. ‘We haven't seen this kind of interest before in Posti's history and we probably won't again soon,’ Posti development chief Markku Penttinen told Finnish news service Yle Uutiset.

FINLAND: Committee Rejects Marriage Bill, Pushes Issue To Full Parliament

The Finnish Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee today rejected a marriage equality bill, pushing the item to consideration by the full national legislature later this year.

After a lengthy campaign, the latest bid to legislate for same-sex marriage has foundered once again at the Finnish Parliaments's Legal Affairs committee. The committee, which also rejected a previous bill on the issue, voted 10-6 to push the law back to the whole legislature. Three of the four National Coalition Party MPs on the committee voted against the bill. The bill will now be considered by a full sitting of parliament in the autumn. Finland is the only Nordic country not to have introduced a gender-neutral marriage law. After the previous attempt failed, campaigners launched a Citizens' Initiative on the matter that gathered more than 166,000 signatures.

The chairman of the Legal Affairs Committee says the bill had technical flaws.

”It just wasn’t ready,” Holmlund said. “All the experts we asked said that the specific legislation proposed in the initiative is technically non-viable.” The voting margin was bigger due to two Social Democrats being absent from the committee vote. Additionally, Arja Juvonen of the Finns Party — who would have voted yes — was represented by Mika Niikko, who voted 'no'. The bill may well go through in the autumn or based on the next government negotiations,” said Green League MP Oras Tynkkynen, who voted for the initiative. “The Western world is gradually coming to accept a gender-neutral legislative stance on marriage, and it feels unlikely that Finland would be the last to come around.”

Finland Issues Tom Of Finland Stamps

In September, Finland's postal service will release several stamps that feature the work of famed gay artist Tom Of Finland. Via FinnBay:

Itella is owned by the state of Finland, providing postal, logistics and e-commerce services in Finland. Tom of Finland or Touko Laaksonen (8 May 1920 – 7 November 1991) is one of the most popular Finnish artists in Finland, who focused on drawing stylized homoerotic fetish art. He produced over 3,500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits with tight or partially removed clothing. “His emphatically masculine homoerotic drawings have attained iconic status in their genre and had an influence on, for instance, pop culture and fashion. In his works, Tom of Finland utilized the self-irony and humor typical of subcultures,” says Itella.

If you embiggen the image, you'll see that there appears to be three stamps on the page, including one of just the bare butt.

FINLAND: Parliament Opens Hearings On Same-Sex Marriage Bill

Finland's parliament today began debate on a same-sex marriage bill forced back onto the table by a national petition process. Via Gay Star News:

Under Finnish law, petitions can be started to force parliament to discuss bills that matter – called a ‘citizen’s initiative’. These petitions require 50,000 names within six months. The marriage equality bill achieved nearly 100,000 signatories in 24 hours. With the final tally at 166,000 names, the proposed petition will be discussed in parliament at its initial stage today where it will be sent to Finland’s legal committee. Polling conducted last year shows support for same-sex marriage at 58% with 34% opposed. Around 42,000 people have signed a petition opposing changes to the marriage law. At present, same-sex couples can register their partnerships but have limited rights and cannot adopt their partner’s children. Finland is the only Scandinavian country without same-sex marriage laws.

A marriage equality bill failed to get past the committee stage last March.

Eurovision 2014: Finland's Entry

Anybody else hearing The Killers?

(Tipped by JMG reader Jari)

Finland To Consider Marriage Equality

The Finnish Parliament will consider a marriage equality bill after a citizens' petition far exceeded the required number of signatures.

Supporters gathered 162,000 signatures in favor of it in the Scandinavian nation of 5.4 million people. The figure represents the largest number of signatures collected in favor of a citizen’s initiative in Finland and only 50,000 signatures, or less than a third of 162,000, were needed for the Parliament to have to consider the initiative. The Finnish Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee voted narrowly not to consider a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in February but thanks to the up-swell of public support lawmakers will have to look at the issue again.

Finland recognized domestic partnerships in 2002.

Microsoft Buys Nokia For $7.2B

Microsoft has purchased Finland-based Nokia's cell phone business in a $7.2B deal that the New York Times is calling an "audacious effort" to capture the mobile market that has "largely passed it by."

Late Monday, Microsoft and Nokia said 32,000 Nokia employees would join Microsoft as a result of the all-cash deal, which is meant to turn the Finnish mobile phone pioneer into the engine for Microsoft’s mobile efforts. Stephen Elop, the former Microsoft executive who was running Nokia until the deal was signed, will rejoin Microsoft after the transaction closes, setting him up as a potential successor to Steven A. Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive. Mr. Ballmer has said he will retire from the company within 12 months. The Nokia deal echoes Google’s $12.5 billion deal to acquire Motorola Mobility, which gave Google control of a trove of mobile patents and a handset business that has yet to shine under Google’s ownership.

The above-linked article notes that Microsoft is using offshore cash for the deal and will therefore avoid US taxes. Microsoft made a similar deal in 2011 when it paid $8.5B for the Estonia-based Skype.

RUSSIA: Finnish Official Waves Rainbow Flag At World Track & Field Championships

Finnish Minister of Culture & Sports Paavo Arhinmäki waved a rainbow flag this afternoon during the World Track & Field Championships in Moscow.  The above-linked article is in Finnish. I'll update this post with an English report if it appears that action will be taken by the Russian government.

RELATED:  Arhinmäki ran for president of Finland in 2012 and finished sixth with 5% of the vote.  Here's how a Finnish website recapped his candidacy before the election.

Arhinmäki, 34, is the youngest and the most radical of the candidates. Before entering politics, he was active in a radical group which organised Crash the Party demonstrations in front of the Presidential Palace, packed with VIPs celebrating Independence Day. He has been fined for trespassing in a nuclear power site and when the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) was held in Helsinki he was arrested during the Smash ASEM demonstration. Arhinmäki is Minister for Culture and Sports in the present six-pack government, a six-party coalition, and he chairs the Left Alliance. A sports fan, he caused a minor scandal in autumn 2011 by attending a basketball game instead of the Helsinki Music Centre opening gala. Arhinmäki boasts of being the most anti-NATO candidate of the race and argues the rest of the candidates are in fact pro-NATO. He is known for good oratory and for being a vegetarian. He describes himself as “a green-red democratic socialist”, but not a communist.

The Gay "Marry Me" Eurovision Parody

Finland's Eurovision entry for this year's contest is Krista Siegfrids' Marry Me, which has become a minor chart hit in her home country.  Below is a gay take on her track. Siegfrids is an ardent supporter of same-sex marriage (watch the ending at the link) and her own production video for the track is here.

(Tipped by JMG reader Jari)

FINLAND: Petition Forces Marriage Equality Bill Back To Parliament

Early this month Finland's marriage equality bill died in committee.  But some Finns wouldn't stand for that.

A drive to gather the 50,000 signatories required to take a gender-neutral marriage bill to Parliament reached its target in just one day. The accumulation of the required support means that lawmakers must now consider a bill which was previously blocked at the committee stage. Members of the public rushed to support the “I Do 2013” campaign, which was launched Tuesday to gather the 50,000 signatures required to compel parliament to consider legalising same-sex marriages. Public enthusiasm for the petition was so great that the civic proposal website crashed as a result of the overwhelming demand.

(Tipped by JMG reader Esa)

Finnish Parliament Rejects Marriage

A marriage equality bill failed to get out of its committee in Finland's Parliament today. Pink News reports:

The bill, proposed by the National Coalition Party (NCP) minister Alexander Stubb proposed the bill, which would have made marriage gender-neutral, therefore allowing same-sex couples to marry. It was rejected 9 votes to 8, and so it will not go before the full legislature for consideration. The bill would have made regulations relating to marriage equal for all, irrespective of the gender of the partners. In Finland, gay and lesbian couples can currently register their partnerships, but do not automatically take each others’ surnames, or adopt children, reports YLE.

Next month LGBT rights groups will launch a petition campaign to force another vote. Fifty thousand signatures are required. Finland is the sole Scandinavian Nordic nation without marriage equality.

From The AIDS Council Of Finland

Clever.

(Via Copyranter)