Finland votes for marriage equality

Timothy Kincaid

November 28th, 2014

finland

Finland has had partner recognition since 2002, a fairly early participant in the quest for equality for same-sex couples. But, unlike other Scandinavian nations which have full equality, Finland stalled.

In 2010 we predicted that marriage equality would come within the next year. But although there is large popular support for the gay community, political will didn’t seem to materialize.

However, today the Finnish Parliament finally voted to bring their nation into the family of states that fully honor the relationships of their gay citizens. (yle)

The Finnish Parliament voted on Friday afternoon to allow gender-neutral marriage, 105-92. The vote had been expected to be closer.

The result was a sweet triumph for the thousands of supporters of marriage equality who gathered around the Parliament this afternoon. Many of them waved rainbow-coloured flags and banners. Shouts of “I do!” – the battle cry of the movement – echoed through the streets. Opponents of the measure also turned out for the session, but found themselves vastly outnumbered.

The reform will force wide-ranging changes in other legislation, which will take well over a year to finalise. The law will therefore not take effect until 2016 at the earliest.

Johan

November 28th, 2014

Where is the picture taken in Finland? I’m not from Scandinavia, but it looks very un-Finnish to me.

tristram

November 28th, 2014

I’m with Johan – the pic looks very Alpish to me.

tristram

November 28th, 2014

OK, Timothy – I think you pulled a NOM on us. It appears that Onepiecetravel pulled that picture from some image gallery and identified it as being in Finland, but there just ain’t nothing like that in Finland. Other sources identify the location as being in the Italian Dolomites.

So when you Googled “pictures of Finland”, you skipped past all the Tom of Finland images that showed up to get to this one!!??

Ben in oakland

November 28th, 2014

Doesn’t the Finnish name for Finland, Suomi, mean swamp?

Lorenzo Fernandez-Vicente

November 29th, 2014

Yes, Finland’s all very flat and swampy.

FYoung

November 29th, 2014

This is a photo of Colle Santa Lucia, in the Dolomite mountain range in the Province of Belluno in the Italian region of Veneto, about 75 miles north of Venice.

Website of Colle Santa Lucia:
http://www.collesantalucia.eu

Webpage on the church, La Chiesa di Santa Lucia, with live web cam of Colle Santa Lucia:
http://www.collesantalucia.eu/category/colle/luoghi/

Google Streetview of Colle Santa Lucia :
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/32020+Colle+Santa+Lucia+BL,+Italy/@46.446119,12.0123722,3a,30y,84.81h,89.94t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxigzZ1o-28HBGAE8XY00zA!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x477848e8b7d8af8d:0xa18ad09dd2e9ff0e

Wikipedia on Colle Santa Lucia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colle_Santa_Lucia

I don’t mean to beat you up with these links. I’m providing them in case readers want to find out more about this beautiful place. It would be interesting to know where you found this image associated with Finland.

Merv

November 29th, 2014

Finland is cold this time of year. Perhaps the Finns are all in Italy for the winter.

enough already

November 29th, 2014

It’s not often I jump to Timothy’s defense, but come on folks.
Yes, born-in-Europe and well-traveled me noticed that that looked a lot more like southern Austria/northern Italy than any place in Finland I’d ever been.
But, come on…those complaining, get over yourselves.
The big deal here is this: Another country has established equal human status for gay people.
That’s what matters here.
Oh, and I’ve never had anything but a wonderful time in Finland whenever I was fortunate enough to be there.

tristram

November 29th, 2014

@enough already – I don’t think anybody’s complaining. I hope Timothy took it as all in good fun. Sort of like the “View from Your Window Contest” on that other website. But I still think one of the Tom of Finland pics would have been clever.

enough already

November 29th, 2014

tristram,
You’re probably right. It’s just awful hard to believe how varied the European landscape can be across areas which would fit into an American state.
I’m having a very hard time of it these days not giving Christians a piece of my mind everytime I hear about what a gloriously ‘free’ country we live in here in the USA. If Finland can do it, we could if we truly cared about human rights.

tristram

November 29th, 2014

I agree – props to Finland. Never been there, but it must be sort of socially schizo – with major influences from Russia on one side and Sweden on the other.

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