March 19, 2008
Gay Norwegians Due to get Marriage Rights.
The United States will be left in the dust by yet another country before long as Norway prepares to legalize same-sex marriage.
Norway already has a so-called “partnership law” that has allowed homosexuals to form legal domestic partnerships. Now they likely will be able to marry, with all the rights that entails, since the government has a majority in parliament and the law is expected to win approval.
The bill, called “felles ekteskapslov” in Norwegian, will also ensure that children of lesbian couples will have two legal parents from the beginning of life, and that married homosexuals will be evaluated as adoptive parents along the same lines as heterosexual couples.
The new government minister in charge of children’s and family issues, Anniken Huitfeldt of the Labour Party, called the proposed law “an historic step towards equality.” She said the goal of the law is to demonstrate that homosexual and heterosexual couples are equal under the law.
“The new law won’t weaken marriage as an institution,” Huitfeldt claimed. “Rather, it will strengthen it. Marriage won’t be worth less because more can take part in it.”
We should expect Norway to fall into the ocean within a decade or two, at least according to Sally Kern and Mary Frances Forrester. Of course I don’t put any credence in their insane homophobic rantings so I think Norway will be around for a great deal longer than a decade or two.
Good for Norway, and congratulations to all of the same-sex couples who will be able to take advantage of the new law when it becomes effective!
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