As predicted, the Danish parliament has voted to allow same-sex couples to wed in churches, by a margin of 85 to 24. An earlier measure offering a separate-but-equal ceremony was rejected on Wednesday.Denmark was the first country in the world to legalized gay unions, back in 1989.
The new law, which goes into effect on June 15, will allow clergy to refrain from performing ceremonies, though they’d have to help couples find a priest who would marry them. Appropriate rites have already been written up by bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, which 80% of the Danish people belong to.
Of course this isn’t stopping the haters from hating: Members of the minority Christian Democrats plan to sue, claiming the law infringes their freedom of religion. They’re not expected to succeed.
Manu Sareen, the Minister for Equality and Church and Nordic Cooperation said of the news: “It’s liberalism, it’s diversity, it’s equality, it’s tolerance and it’s so beautiful.”
Amen!
Source: Pink News
