the gay marriage debate in Finland
2 Sep 2010 06:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cimoreneIn Finland, where civil partnerships exist but do not convey benefits equivalent to marriage, the question of legalizing gay marriage has been under debate for some little while and is on the agenda of the governing Center-Green coalition. The side debate concerns the state Evangelical Lutheran church of Finland, which currently has an anti-gay marriage stance, and whether such a law would require it to voluntarily relinquish its current right to perform legally binding marriage ceremonies. This tiny article appeared at the bottom of page 4 in today's HBL (Finland-Swedish newspaper):
It's interesting because, while that "More than half are willing to stand up and declare themselves for legal inequality and lending themselves personally to suppressing your, yes, YOUR, Cim's, civil rights" - of course that's still upsetting, but given the tenor of debate and the way it is generally posed as a civil vs. religious question, I was definitely surprised that as many as a third of priests are actually for it.
One in three priests wants to wed gay couples
About one third of priests in the Evangelical Lutheran church in Finland could imagine themselves marrying gay couples, according to a survey done by Radio Dei. Female priests are more positive towards the idea than male priests.
More than half of respondents are unwilling to wed gay couples.
It's interesting because, while that "More than half are willing to stand up and declare themselves for legal inequality and lending themselves personally to suppressing your, yes, YOUR, Cim's, civil rights" - of course that's still upsetting, but given the tenor of debate and the way it is generally posed as a civil vs. religious question, I was definitely surprised that as many as a third of priests are actually for it.
