This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

Finland Allows Same-Sex Marriages For The First Time

Finland Allows Same-Sex Marriages For The First Time
Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrate outside the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki November 28, 2014. The Finnish Parliament on Friday narrowly approved a citizen's initiative to legalise same-sex marriage. Gay couples in Finland have been able to enter into registered partnerships since 2002, but until now the country was the only one in the Nordic region to not allow same-sex marriage. Finland is now the 12th European state to do so. REUTERS/Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva (FINLAND - Tags: POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. FINLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN FINLAND
Lehtikuva Lehtikuva / Reuters
Supporters of same-sex marriage celebrate outside the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki November 28, 2014. The Finnish Parliament on Friday narrowly approved a citizen's initiative to legalise same-sex marriage. Gay couples in Finland have been able to enter into registered partnerships since 2002, but until now the country was the only one in the Nordic region to not allow same-sex marriage. Finland is now the 12th European state to do so. REUTERS/Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva (FINLAND - Tags: POLITICS) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. FINLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN FINLAND
The Finnish parliament originally passed the legislation to make same-sex marriage legal in 2014, voting 101-90 in favor of the law.
Lehtikuva Lehtikuva / Reuters
The Finnish parliament originally passed the legislation to make same-sex marriage legal in 2014, voting 101-90 in favor of the law.

Finland’s same-sex couples can finally marry and adopt children, as the country’s marriage equality law comes into effect on Wednesday.

The Northern European country’s parliament originally passed the legislation to make same-sex marriage legal in 2014, voting 101-90 in favor of the law. The fate of the legislation was finally confirmed last month, however, when lawmakers shot down a citizens’ petition calling for its repeal.

The far-right populist Finns Party and the Christian Democrats backed the challenge to the marriage equality law, but the parliament voted 120-48 to uphold the law. Finnish Member of Parliament Emma Kari lambasted the appeal as “harassment in the form of government cooperation.”

Finland is the last Nordic country to make marriage equality legal, after countries such as Sweden and Norway passed same-sex marriage laws in 2009. Denmark has had same-sex unions since 1989, the first country in the world to do so, but those partnerships did not grant full rights.

The new Finnish law expands existing same-sex unions that give couples the right to take each others surname and makes them eligible to adopt children, erasing the previous legal distinctions between same-sex partnerships and heterosexual marriages. Finland has allowed same-sex unions since 2002, but with restricted rights.

This week marks a triumph for Finnish marriage equality supporters, who have long been attempting to make same-sex marriage legal in the nation. There were at least three failed bills attempting to legalize same-sex marriage before the successful vote in 2014.

Same-sex marriage is legal in an increasing number of European nations. Ireland voted in favor of legalization in 2015, while Slovenia allowed same-sex marriages as of last week.

Several European governments have opposed granting full rights to same-sex couples, however, and some prominent far-right parties are also against legalization. France’s populist National Front party, which is leading polls though expected to lose in a second-round runoff vote in May, has pledged to replace same-sex marriage with civil unions.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.