Denmark moves on marriage bill

[andysayshi]

That's great news. I have many Danish friends, gay and straight, and have spent plenty of time there myself. I've even sung at a Danish wedding!

Denmark is very gay friendly. Most Danes don't understand why it wasn't law years ago.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

Hooray for Europe. Denmark would be the 11th country in the world to have nationwide gay marriage, and the 8th in Europe. Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, don't keep us waiting any longer.

 

[Zeno Lorea]

I would hope that Denmark moves it forward quickly It'll be another country ahead of the US.

It's easy to be progressive if you're small. The advantage of the USA is that gay marriage in Massachusetts has more of an impact in Texas, which is in the same country no matter how far away, than gay marriage in Holland and Belgium has on Germany, which can ignore us even though it's right next door.

 

[jonbrianblake]

Excellent news. And I love that it's being reported so matter of factly. The odds look very good that this is going to pass I think.

 

[Tengilethos]

It's easy to be progressive if you're small. The advantage of the USA is that gay marriage in Massachusetts has more of an impact in Texas, which is in the same country no matter how far away, than gay marriage in Holland and Belgium has on Germany, which can ignore us even though it's right next door.

That is the sad truth. I'm mad that it is such a non-issue here. We have civil unions in Germany that aren't even close to being real marriages with regards to rights, but neither the left nor the right is talking about it. In a way it is good because no serious politician would consider taking our civil unions away, but on the other hand I doubt that we will have any progress at all within the next ten years at least

And as you said, I have not seen even one report about gay marriage in Denmark in the mainstream media here.

 

[subsonic]

I'm from and live in Denmark - yay!

I'm glad that this bill has finally passed. Our prime minister has said that gay people can marry this summer already, whether it's in the church or at city hall.

The debate is now about whether or not the majority of priests are going to marry gay people or not, since they decide themselves. Furthermore there's been a survey which claims that every 10th member of the national church is considering resign from the church because of this, so we still have a long way to go, when it comes to tolerance and acceptance of the gay community. Still, it's a big step for us all here.

 

[Rolyo85]

I posted about this on my blog too (shameless plug btw). And I know it's much easier for smaller countries to be progressive, but it is still a very strong example of how easy it actually is to do it if you just wanted to do it.

 

[JBintheass]

Interesting news

 

[rareboy]

Welcome Denmark to the small elite club of countries that support homo marriage.

 

[subsonic]

^^^

I'm really glad for you subsonic. It is fantastic to have gay equality, although I think it will be taken away from my state this year.

Why do you suppose so?

I agree with all of you it is very good indeed. But we still have a long way to go. It might be that we have these success stories when it comes to legal matters, we still lack in the general, public tolerance. This news has started a widespread and hot debate about
1. homosexuals in general
and 2. gay marriage.

People don't understand why we want to be married into a religion that supposedly doesn't support us. I disagree on this matter, but this is more a question of how people interpret the Bible and a whole other discussion.

I was very shocked the other day when I read a comment to this news, where a man wrote that if his daughter came home with a girlfriend, he would disown her.
So yeah, we still lack a general tolerance and acceptance.
If the Danish media would show a bigger variety of gay people instead of only showing the overtly flamboyant homosexuals in tv shows etc. for entertainment, then maybe the general view on us would be different. At least that's my opinion..

 

[chnuba]

Easier to gain progressive legislation in a smaller country? Excuse me look at e.g. Spain or Argentina, both being countries with a huge population with a fairly strong church.

I'd rather see it as a question of progressive power, combined with a secularised culture. By that I mean that a society which sees a secularised culture to be a culture which is fair, and equal for everyone, and which is later pushed on by a progressive power (like a political party, like the Socialdemocrats in Denmark, the (for an American) far-left conservative-liberal cabinet of Sweden(and it's opposition which would have ensured the same legislation would have passed in case they were in power)).

The point is, stop talking about small countries. The reason e.g. USA haven't done these changes is because it's A. Not progressive, and B. not secularised.