Marriage Equality For Finland - but Not Yet.

With marriage equality achieved in Sweden (including church weddings) and in Norway, and on its way in Iceland and Denmark, the puzzle has been - why not also in Finland?

A report in Ice News sheds some light on the issue: it seems that there is overwhelming support among Finnish parliamentarians, including those of the major parties and their leadership. The parties are expected to vote in favour of some gay marriage proposals at their upcoming party congresses. However, it appears there is a parliamentary election coming up, and I suspect this is why nobody is taking the initiative on this just yet.

Expect full marriage and adoption rights for Finland next year rather than this one. That will complete a clean sweep of all five Nordic countries.

From  Ice News:

Regardless of the outcome of next year’s Finnish parliamentary elections, the governing majority is expected to implement a motion in support of gender-neutral marriage and adoption.

A new survey by Helsingin Sanomat revealed that there is little political opposition to the notion of allowing same-sex couples to adopt.

The newspaper study found that the larger political parties held few objections to gay couples adopting, with only the True Finns and Christian League opposing a change in the law. All candidates for the leadership of the governing Centre Party, except for Paavo Vayrynen, were in favour of the idea, and the Social Democrats and the conservative National Coalition were also positive about the concept.

(Read the full report)