Norway adopts gay marriage law
12/06/2008
Submitted by
ILGA-Europe
11.06.2008
On Wednesday (11.06.08) the Norwegian parliament adopted a new marriage law that allows homosexuals to marry and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated. MPs adopted the text by a vote of 84 to 41.
The three centre-left coalition parties in power and two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, voted largely in favour of the law, while the Christian Democrats and the far-right Progress Party voted against it.
Norway is the sixth country in the world to grant homosexuals the right to marry on an equal footing with heterosexuals.
"This decision is of an importance comparable to universal suffrage and our law on parity," Labour Party rapporteur Gunn Karin Gjul said during the debate.
The most controversial part of the law is that which gives lesbians the right to be artificially inseminated. The sperm donor must be identified so that the child can seek out his or her biological father at the age of 18.
Among other things, the new legislation replaces a so-called "partnership law" adopted in 1993 which gave Norwegian homosexuals the right to civil unions.
Health care workers who do not want to perform artificial inseminations on lesbians because of their personal convictions will not be under any obligation to carry out the procedure.
The new law is expected to enter into force at the end of 2008 or early 2009.
On Wednesday (11.06.08) the Norwegian parliament adopted a new marriage law that allows homosexuals to marry and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated. MPs adopted the text by a vote of 84 to 41.
The three centre-left coalition parties in power and two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, voted largely in favour of the law, while the Christian Democrats and the far-right Progress Party voted against it.
Norway is the sixth country in the world to grant homosexuals the right to marry on an equal footing with heterosexuals.
"This decision is of an importance comparable to universal suffrage and our law on parity," Labour Party rapporteur Gunn Karin Gjul said during the debate.
The most controversial part of the law is that which gives lesbians the right to be artificially inseminated. The sperm donor must be identified so that the child can seek out his or her biological father at the age of 18.
Among other things, the new legislation replaces a so-called "partnership law" adopted in 1993 which gave Norwegian homosexuals the right to civil unions.
Health care workers who do not want to perform artificial inseminations on lesbians because of their personal convictions will not be under any obligation to carry out the procedure.
The new law is expected to enter into force at the end of 2008 or early 2009.
