2.7.2 Domestic partnership (Same-sex "marriages")
Description
This article is from the Nordic countries FAQ, by Antti Lahelma and Johan Olofsson, with numerous contributions by others.
2.7.2 Domestic partnership (Same-sex "marriages")
In all Scandinavian countries (i.e. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and also
Iceland, but not Finland or the Faroe Islands) same-sex marriages,
officially called "Registered Partnerships", are recognized by the law
- with more or less the same rights and duties as in bi-gender
marriages. In Sweden two very well-known female performing artists,
Eva Dahlgren and Efva Attling, married publicly the spring 1996 with
much fanfare.
Denmark, Norway, Greenland, Sweden and Iceland have (in that order)
made the cohabition between people of the same sex possible to get
officially registered, which in most non-religious respects makes the
status of the relationship equal to that of a married couple. As late
as June 27th 1996 the law took effect on Iceland.
Finland has not yet joined the other Nordic states, but is rapidly and
under unusual parliamentarian means catching up. Being last will
probably also mean that they will end up with the most radical laws.
The laws are very short - what they do is state that gay couples who
register are entitled to all of the benefits (and responsibilities) of
their country's respective marriage laws. They do this by simply
referring the Registered Partnership Acts to the respective sections
of the country's Marriage Act that applies.
The ceremony is performed much like a civil wedding ceremony. The
Church does not perform such ceremonies, but some priests have chosen
to bless partners in connection with the ceremony. The registration of
a partnership makes no big practical change compared to living
together without it, however for instance rules regarding inheritance
are affected. The meaning is most of all emotional, as an act making
the relationship "officially" acknowledged.
The laws requires at least one of the partners to be a citizen in the
actual country.
Until recent years homosexuals in all Nordic countries have been in a
situation where their partners have not been recognized by the
official society at all, for instance often have not been properly
informed in case of accidents and hospitalizations, and with severe
problems to keep the lease of a shared flat in case of a divorce or a
death. During the 1970s this started to change, and gay couples became
equal to unmarried couples without children at the same time as most
social benefits became depending on cohabition instead of marriage.
And 1989 Denmark was first out with a specific law regulating the
rights and duties of gay couples who live in recognized partnerships,
i.e. common law marriages.
Due to the Swedish Registered Partnership Act women who have entered
into partnerships have also been granted social benefits in connection
with a birth equal to if the other woman had been the married father
of the child. It is likely that this implementation will be normal in
the future.
Still the authorities in Finland treat cohabiting same sex couples as
single persons and not like unmarried heterosexual couples (common law
marriage) which leads to an increased financial burden. This has
implications to taxation, health insurance, and so on and on...
In none of the Nordic states does the law permit the adoption of
children by gay or lesbian couples, nor does it give the right to
artificial insemination. Insemination is in Sweden illegal outside of
the public health care system and the requirements make it impossible
for lesbians without an infertile male husband to get inseminated. In
Denmark insemination for lesbians is not illegal, however not financed
through the health-care insurances.
There has been some discussion about these laws, involving both
requests for more radical steps and urging of Conservatism. Many
homosexuals would probably agree that the partnership laws are the
best possible result of pragmatic compromises by gay-rights activists
and the straight [heterosexual] politicians who supported the law.
It's a typical example of Scandinavian step-by-step reforms. And it
will be improved further.
The Icelandic law is similar to those passed in Norway, Denmark and
Sweden, but it also gives gay couples joint custody of the children of
either partner. Both partners then become the childrens' guardians and
should the natural parent die, the other partner - the childrens' step
parent - automatically becomes their sole guardian. Nowhere have gay
couples had such rights up to now. In addition to this the Alþingi
(the Parliament of Iceland) is scheduled to change several provisions
in the criminal law, making it a punishable offense to defame or
persecute gays and lesbians in public. In addition, the law only
permits gay and lesbian couples to confirm their partnership in a
civil ceremony; this in light of the Church of Iceland's firm
opposition to church marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The new law
enjoys the support of all political parties represented in parliament
and only one member voted against the bill.
Top politicians have in some cases chosen to be quite open regarding
their own experiences and feelings of homosexual nature, as for
instance Andreas Carlgren, the vice chairman of the Center party in
Sweden; and in other cases chosen to regard these matters as strictly
personal which well might be acknowledged in an interview or two, but
which are not allowed to become a part of their image, as for instance
the Norwegian minister of Justice, Anne Holt, and the Danish minister
of Health, Yvonne Herlov Andersen. In the Nordic countries it's
customary to respect the individual's choice in these cases.
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