La legge, approvata dal governo di centro-destra, entrerà in vigore il primo maggio e consentirà anche alle coppie dello stesso sesso di sposarsi civilmente.

Questo significa che anche le lesbiche (e gli uomini gay) avranno la possibilità di accedere al matrimonio acquisendo di conseguenza tutti i diritti ed i doveri ad esso connessi, incluso il riconoscimento sociale. Per le coppie eterosessuali tutto proseguirà come prima, senza alcun cambiamento.

La Chiesa di Svezia si pronuncerà in autunno sull'eventualità o meno di celebrare i matrimoni religiosi anche in chiesa.

Sweden's parliament passed new legislation by a wide majority on Wednesday that will allow homosexuals to marry in church and civil weddings

The law will come into force on May 1st.

"Parliament on Wednesday adopted the bill on a gender-neutral marriage law," parliament said in a statement.
 

http://www.thelocal.se/18608/20090402/

Le nazioni che, al momento riconoscono il matrimonio tra persone dello stesso sesso sono oltre la Svezia: Olanda, Belgio, Canada, Spagna, Sudafrica, Norvegia e, negli Stati Uniti il Massachussets, il Connecticut, il Vermont e l'Iowa.

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Lo stato del Maine ha approvato una legge che rende legale il matrimonio civile tra coppie gay. Negli Usa è il quinto stato che garantisce la piena eguaglianza giuridica tra coppie eterosessuali e coppie gay e lesbiche. Gli altri stati sono il Massachussetes, il Connecticut, il Vermont e l'Iowa.

The bill authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows.

The activist group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders has targeted all six New England states for passage of a gay marriage law by 2012.

"I have come to believe that this is a question of fairness and of equal protection under the law, and that a civil union is not equal to civil marriage," Baldacci, a Democrat, said in a statement released as he signed the bill.

 "This law is simply about making sure that loving, committed couples, and their families, receive equal rights and responsibilities. This is a step that will strengthen Maine families," Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese said in a written statement.

 http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/06/maine.same.sex.marriage/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30602151/

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The governor of New Hampshire has signed legislation making the US state the sixth to allow same-sex marriage.

John Lynch was surrounded by cheering supporters as he signed the three bills shortly after a key vote by both houses of the New Hampshire legislature.

Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont e Iowa sono gli altri stati che finora hanno riconosciuto legalmente il matrimonio civile tra coppie dello stesso sesso. Con il New Hampshire il numero sale a 6.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8082250.stm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/03/gay-marriage-new-hampshir_0_n_211063.html

“As people get to know the loving and committed couples at the heart of marriage equality,” said Neil G. Giuliano, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, “our culture is moving to equality.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/us/04marriage.html

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The Synod of the Lutheran Church of Sweden has come down in favour of church weddings for homosexuals in a vote held on Thursday morning.

The decision, which is based on a proposal from the church’s governing board, means that the Church of Sweden will conduct wedding ceremonies for both heterosexual and homosexual couples.

The proposal was approved by 176 of 249 voting members.
Individual pastors would also still be able to refuse to perform marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples.

Since 2007, the Church of Sweden, which counts around 74 percent of Swedes as members, has offered gays a religious blessing of their union.

The ruling by the Synod, which has 251 delegates - two of which were absent from Thursday's vote, puts Sweden among the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major church.

http://www.thelocal.se/22810/20091022/ 

 

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Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its moderate, independent-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091104/ap_on_el_st_lo/us_gay_marriage_maine

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=8990602

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New York lawmakers have rejected a bill to legalize gay marriage.

The Senate decision Wednesday comes after months of delays and arm twisting of lawmakers sympathetic to the bill but representing conservative districts. It follows a referendum in Maine earlier this month that struck down a gay marriage law before it took effect.

Advocates say they aren't surprised by the decision. Most, including Gov. David Paterson, say they at least wanted a floor debate and vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/02/gay-marriage-in-new-york-_0_n_377020.html

Opponents of gay marriage were celebrating yesterday after New York State's senate rejected a bill that would have allowed same-sex marriage, saying it was a huge victory that could influence votes elsewhere.

New York's bill was defeated 38-24 on Wednesday in the assembly, which is led by liberal New York City Democrats who hold a single-seat majority.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/new-york-senate-rejects-samesex-marriage-bill-1833859.html

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The mayor of Washington has signed a bill legalizing gay marriage in the nation's capital, but it won't go into effect just yet.

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty signed the bill Friday in a public ceremony.

The city council passed the measure Tuesday to legalize same-sex marriage in the city. Congress has final say over D.C.'s laws, however, so the mayor's signature doesn't mean the bill immediately becomes law.

The bill must pass a 30-day period of Congressional review.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nation/mayor-set-to-sign-dcs-gay-marriage-bill-which-goes-to-congress-next-for-review-79615117.html

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Mexico City lawmakers on Monday made the city the first in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage, a change that will give homosexual couples more rights, including allowing them to adopt children.

The bill passed the capital's local assembly 39-20 to the cheers of supporters who yelled: "Yes, we could! Yes, we could!"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/21/mexico-city-approves-gay_n_399797.html

The change will enable same-sex couples to adopt, apply for bank loans, inherit wealth and be included in the insurance policies of their spouse – rights they were denied under the civil unions allowed in the city.

"We are so happy," said Temistocles Villanueva, a 23-year-old film student, who celebrated the new legislation by kissing his boyfriend outside the city assembly.

"For centuries, unjust laws banned marriage between blacks and whites or Indians and Europeans," Victor Romo, of the Democratic Revolution party, said. "Today, all barriers have disappeared."

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/22/mexico-city-same-sex-marriage

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Portugal's parliament passed a bill Friday that would make the predominantly Catholic nation the sixth in Europe to permit gay marriage.

Gay rights campaigners applauded from the galleries, hugged and kissed outside the building and ate wedding cake.

"This law rights a wrong," Prime Minister Jose Socrates said in a speech to lawmakers, adding that it "simply ends pointless suffering."

The bill removes a reference in the current law to marriage being between two people of different sexes.

"It's a slight change to the law, it's true," Socrates, the prime minister, said. "But it is a very important and symbolic step towards fully ensuring respect for values that are essential in any democratic, open and tolerant society: the values of freedom, equality and non-discrimination."

A proposal from the Left Bloc and Green Party allowing gay couples to adopt children was voted down Friday. Gay campaigners said they would continue to fight for gay couples' parental rights.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34765160/ns/world_news-europe/

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Same-sex couples in Washington, D.C., can head to city hall Wednesday to apply for marriage licences, as the federal district becomes the most recent place in the United States to approve gay marriage.

To prepare for Wednesday, the marriage bureau has changed its licence applications so they are gender-neutral, asking for the name of each "spouse" rather than the "bride" and "groom."

The booklet outlining how civil marriage ceremonies should be performed has also been changed. The instructions now read: "I now pronounce you legally married" instead of "I now pronounce you man and wife."

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/03/03/washington-same-sex-marriage.html

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E, per inciso, il primo matrimonio tra lesbiche in America Latina. Sotto, un video delle delle neo-spose.

A law allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry comes into effect on Thursday in Mexico City.

The law, which was passed by the city's local assembly in December, gives gay people full marital rights, including the right to adopt.

Judith Vazquez and partner Lol-kin Castaneda hope to become one of the first couples to marry under the new law.

"It's the end of our fight and the beginning of life in freedom in Mexico City," Ms Vazquez told the BBC.

"This is a great, historic moment for the whole of society in Mexico City," added Ms Castaneda.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8549400.stm

 

 

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The small island nation of Iceland (pop. 320,000) is preparing to legalize gay marriage.

The bill has the backing of Prime Minister Johanna Siguroardottir, the world’s first openly lesbian politician to be elected to helm a country. 

http://www.gayice.is/news/latest/336-best-gay-cities-article-gay-marriage-around-the-world

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Portugal's conservative president announced Monday he is ratifying a law allowing gay marriage in the predominantly Catholic country.

The head of state's decision to permit the enactment of a bill passed by Parliament in January makes Portugal the sixth European country allowing same-sex couples to wed.

President Anibal Cavaco Silva said in a nationally televised address he regretted that the country's political parties had failed to reach a compromise during days of heated debate in Parliament four months ago.

Vetoing the bill would only send it back to Parliament where lawmakers would overturn his decision, he said, adding that the country needed to focus on overcoming an economic crisis that has increased unemployment and deepened poverty.

He said that, in ratifying the law, he was setting aside "personal convictions

The new law removes the previous legal stipulation that marriage is between two people of different sexes.

Portugal's Constitutional Court validated the bill's legality last month.

Like neighboring Spain, which introduced same-sex marriages four years ago, previous efforts in Portugal to introduce gay marriage ran into strong resistance from religious groups and conservative lawmakers.

Gay rights advocates have said they will continue to fight for gay couples' parental rights, including adoption, which are not included in the law.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ik3aX3N0ru0tZv_wqU87GX6lm4lwD9FOPSSO0

 

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A synod of priests of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland - the state church - rejected a proposal to allow homosexual couples the right to marry within the church.

After much contention, the proposal was narrowly defeated.

The issue of gay marriage is one of many points brought up in discussions of separation of church and state in Iceland. More recently, the money that would be saved if there were such a separation has also seen more prominence in the discussion.

http://www.grapevine.is/Home/ReadArticle/Icelandic-Priests-Say-No-to-Gay-Marriage

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Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance.

The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women.

Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdadottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.

"The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKTRE65A3X620100611

Althingi members welcomed the move after the vote, saying today is a great day for everybody everywhere involved in the struggle for gay rights and human rights generally.

The bill will go to the President for ratification; but that is a formality as the Icelandic President has only twice sent a bill to public referendum in the history of the Republic of Icelandic. Also, public opinion polls suggest the marriage bill is extremely popular.

http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2010/06/11/iceland-parliament-votes-for-gay-marriage/

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Argentina has become the first country in Latin America to legalise gay marriage after the Senate voted in favour.

The country's Chamber of Deputies had already approved the legislation.

The vote in the Senate, which backed the bill by just six votes, came after 14 hours of at times heated debate.

The legislation, backed by President Cristina Fernandez's centre-left government, passed by 33 votes to 27 with three abstentions. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10630683

Sotto riporto un bellissimo video girato dalla Federazione Argentina LGBT qualche giorno prima dello storico voto.

 

 

 

 

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Flanked by representatives from the gay community, Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner signed into law a historic bill that legalizes same-sex marriage -- a Latin American first.

"We are now a more egalitarian society than we were last week," Kirchner said. "These are things that unite us and cannot divide us."

Kirchner's signing ceremony Wednesday was attended by representatives of humanitarian groups that supported the legislation, which made Argentina the first country in Latin America to legalize same-sex marriage.

"We have not enacted a law but rather a social construct," the president said, stressing that the legislation would create a more pluralistic society.

Argentina's first gay marriage is expected to take place August 13, uniting a couple who have lived together for 34 years.

 http://www.france24.com/en/20100722-argentine-president-signs-gay-marriage-law-0

"Today we are a society that is a little more egalitarian than last week," Fernandez said at the signing ceremony.

Representatives of groups for gays and lesbians cheered, crying out "Equality, equality!"

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hNaz3Yj83eVbNzTrmzTSXxpz-pBAD9H3OIE00

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A ban on same-sex marriages in California has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge, marking a major turning point in a controversial debate that has divided America.

In a politically charged judgment, US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker handed gay rights advocates a critical victory after a 13-day hearing.

Crucially, he also ordered that the ban, approved by the voters and known as Proposition 8, should be lifted immediately, allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry while the case moves to a higher court for appeal.

Proposition 8 supporters had argued to keep the ban in place pending the outcome of their appeal. In a 136-page ruling, Walker said the lawsuit challenging the ban "demonstrated by overwhelming evidence" that it violates due process amid equal-protection rights under the US constitution.

"Proposition 8 fails to advance any rational basis in singling out gay men and lesbians for denial of a marriage licence," he said. "Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples".

His ruling was greeted by cheers from some 70 same-sex marriage supporters outside the courthouse in San Francisco as they waved US flags and a large rainbow-striped flag – the symbol of the gay rights movement.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/05/california-proposition-8-ban-overturned

Although Proposition 8 fails to possess even a rational basis, the evidence presented at trial shows that gays and lesbians are the type of minority strict scrutiny was designed to protect," Walker ruled.

"Plaintiffs do not seek recognition of a new right. To characterize plaintiffs' objective as "the right to same-sex marriage" would suggest that plaintiffs seek something different from what opposite-sex couples across the state enjoy -- namely, marriage. Rather, plaintiffs ask California to recognize their relationships for what they are: marriages."

"Proposition 8 places the force of law behind stigmas against gays and lesbians, including: gays and lesbians do not have intimate relationships similar to heterosexual couples; gays and lesbians are not as good as heterosexuals; and gay and lesbian relationships do not deserve the full recognition of society."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/prop-8-overturned-gay-mar_n_671018.html

 

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- Mexico's supreme court on Thursday upheld a landmark law that allows gay marriage in the capital city, bucking a challenge raised by the conservative government of President Felipe Calderon.

"Those of us who are in favor of this (law) are in favor of diversity and tolerance," Supreme Court Justice Arturo Zaldivar said during the court's deliberations.

"Our constitution does not establish a concept of marriage," he said.

Since the law was passed, more than 300 same-sex couples have tied the knot, the majority of them men.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6745RD20100805

The powerful Catholic hierarchy in Mexico calls gay marriage immoral.

While the supreme court decided gay marriage was constitutional, it will review the adoption clause on Monday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38584702/ns/world_news-americas

 

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Supporters of California's gay marriage ban filed an appeal Thursday of a federal judge's ruling striking down the voter-approved law.

The 9th Circuit court has no deadlines to hear the case, which will be randomly assigned to a three-judge panel. It's expected that the panel will order both sides to submit written legal arguments before scheduling a hearing.

The outcome in the appeals court could force the U.S. Supreme Court to confront the question of whether gays have a constitutional right to wed.

"This ruling, if allowed to stand, threatens not only Prop 8 in California but the laws in 45 other states that define marriage as one man and one woman," said Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, which helped fund the 2008 campaign that led to the ban's passage

 http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/08/gay_marriage_opponents_filed_a.htm

David Madden, a spokesman for the 9th Circuit, said the appeals court received the notice of appeal Thursday and set a standard briefing schedule under its normal appeals process.

Proposition 8's sponsors must file their opening brief by Nov. 12, and the plaintiffs must respond by Dec. 13. The initiative's sponsors will then have the option of filing a reply two weeks later.

The appeal is on the substance of the decision and is separate from any possible appeals on the question of whether Walker's ruling should be suspended during the appeal process.

http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=89695&catid=29

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Gay couples who had been gearing up to get married in California this week had to put their wedding plans on hold once again after a federal appeals court said it first wanted to consider the constitutionality of the state's same-sex marriage ban.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals imposed an emergency stay Monday on a trial court judge's ruling overturning the ban, known as Proposition 8. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker had ordered state officials to stop enforcing the measure starting Wednesday, clearing the way for county clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

"It's saddening just to know that we still have to keep waiting for this basic human right," Marcia Davalos, of Los Angeles, a health care advocate who had planned to marry her partner, Laurette Healey, said when the stay was issued Monday. "We were getting excited and then all of a sudden it's like, 'Ugh.' It's a roller-coaster."

Attorneys for backers of the voter-approved measure applauded the decision. In seeking the emergency stay, they had argued that sanctioning same-sex unions while the case was on appeal would create legal chaos if the ban is eventually upheld.

"Invalidating the people's vote based on just one judge's opinion would not have been appropriate, and would have shaken the people's confidence in our elections and the right to vote itself," said Andy Pugno, general counsel for the coalition of religious and conservative groups that sponsored Proposition 8.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hOiMLmsztmiGlNvjNLQLw4N41h1QD9HL4DRG0

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