Thursday November 6, 2008
Sweden Considers "Gender Neutral Marriage" Law
By Thaddeus M. Baklinski
STOCKHOLM, November 6, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Sweden’s parliament is preparing to consider so-called “gender neutral marriage” legislation that would allow homosexuals to "marry" and give them all the same rights as natural marriage, including church weddings, adoption and assisted pregnancies.
Should Sweden pass the legislation it would be following close on the heels of its neighbor Norway. In June the Norwegian parliament gave final approval to a same-sex "marriage" law that allows homosexuals to "marry" and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated.
Civil unions granting homosexuals the same legal status as married couples have been allowed in Sweden since 1995, with the country's predominant Lutheran church offering "a religious blessing" on these civil unions; however, government registration and church blessing as a "marriage" was not permitted.
AFP reports, "If the new legislation is adopted, Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, would become the first country in the world to allow gays to marry within a major church."
This law would make Sweden the eighth jurisdiction in the world to legalize same-sex "marriage," with the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, the state of Massachusetts, South Africa and Norway leading the way.
Opposition to the legislation is being voiced by the Christian Democrat party, while the other three members of Sweden's four-party coalition government, as well as the opposition Social Democrats, the country's biggest party, support the proposal.
"Pastors who do not want to perform a gay wedding ceremony may however have the right to refuse, something gay rights' activists have criticised," the AFP report states.
Latest Headlines
- Cardinal George Denounces "New Ways Ministry" as Pseudo-Catholic Organization

- Irony: 19-Child Duggar Family Renting Former Home of Local Planned Parenthood Leader

- Document Reveals Inconsistencies in ND's Jenkins Claims on ND88

- New Country Music Star Born as Pro-Life Ballad Climbs the Charts

- Future of Pontifical Academy for Life at Stake as Members Meet in Closed Door Session

- Rally Planned in Defence of Canadian Pro-Life Ad

- Commentary on February 8 News

- Chinese Human-Rights Crusaders Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

- U.K.’s Conservative Leader Pledges Full Support to Gay Agenda

- B.C. Civil Liberties Association Goes to Bat for Pro-Life Student Club

- Police Refuse to Release Federal "Threat Assessment" on Wis. Pro-Lifers

- Canadian Human Rights Commission Appeals Ruling against Hate Messages Statute

- Homosexual Activist Keith Norton Dies at 69

- Malta Celebrates 32nd Pro-Life Day

- My Vote for Best Pro-life Super Bowl Ad: Google’s Parisian Love Story

- Pope: Family Necessary for Child Development

- Letters to the Editor

Most Read this Week
- Veterans, Former Army Legal Chief Defend “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
- Planned Parenthood President Lands Spot on Ford Foundation Board
- Rabbis Warn against 'Disaster' of Open Homosexuality in the Military
- Football Pros Give Support to Tim Tebow Super Bowl Ad
- Clash of the Abortion Titans: Planned Parenthood Launches 'Pro-Choice' Football Ad
- Canadian Station Pulls Pro-Life Ad – Too “Graphic”
- Hijacking the Brain — How Pornography Works
- Group Exposes Media "Fraud" at March for Life
- U.S. Sisters in Crisis after Embracing “Secular Culture”: Vatican Cardinal
- NYT: Rampant Polygamy in Gay 'Marriage' May Benefit Institution
MORE NEWS:
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page
Last 10 Days
Archives
Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.








Back to Top