{"id":14417,"date":"2009-04-02T11:42:01","date_gmt":"2009-04-02T17:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=14417"},"modified":"2014-11-06T07:33:53","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T14:33:53","slug":"marriage-equality-in-sweden-neither-fire-nor-brimstone-sighted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/04\/02\/marriage-equality-in-sweden-neither-fire-nor-brimstone-sighted.html","title":{"rendered":"Marriage Equality in Sweden — neither fire nor brimstone sighted"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nor earthquakes, pillars of fire, hails of frogs, nor any of the other dire warnings of what happens when God’s Will is Thwarted.<\/p>\n

\n

The change in the law, which currently allows gay couples to register unions but not formal marriage, comes into force on May 1 this year under the timetable set out in the bill. […] Sweden gave same-sex couples the right to form a union via registered partnerships in the mid-nineties and made it legal for them to adopt in 2002.<\/p>\n

The passage of the bill was widely expected and the final tally was 261 votes in favor of the bill and 22 opposed.<\/p>\n

“The decision means that gender no longer has an impact on the ability to marry and that the law on registered partnership is repealed,” the government said on its website.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Wow. Civil unions until the 90s, and gay adoption since 2002 — and no plagues of locusts (nor plagues of polar bears, perhaps more appropriately). What is God waiting for?<\/p>\n

Could it be that God isn’t automatically smiting down those who’d dare let such a thing happen? I’m sure the Religious Right must be aghast.<\/p>\n

\n

The new legislation eliminates legal distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual spouses, but does not force dissenting clergy to wed gay couples.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Which is fine. It’s setting civil <\/em>rights, not religious <\/em>rights. That’s up to each denomination and cleric within same.<\/p>\n

\n

The Swedish Lutheran church, which split from the state in 2000, has said it was open to celebrating and registering same-sex unions<\/span>, although it wanted to reserve the term matrimony for heterosexual marriages.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Again, fine. That’s their prerogative.<\/p>\n

Why is it the Swedes seem so relatively calm and rational and happy about this sort of thing, while it ties our society, churches, and politicians into laughable knots?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

(via Les<\/a>)<\/p>\n

<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nor earthquakes, pillars of fire, hails of frogs, nor any of the other dire warnings of what happens when God’s Will is Thwarted. The change in the law, which currently allows gay couples to register unions but not formal marriage, comes into force on May 1 this year under the timetable set out in the … Continue reading “Marriage Equality in Sweden — neither fire nor brimstone sighted”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,718,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-marriage-equality","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5231,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/04\/22\/an_illustrating.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":0},"title":"An illustrating moment","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 22-Apr-04 3:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A common canard among those against gay marriage and civil unions is that, well, all of those things that gay couples are looking for -- power of attorney, inheritance rights,...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5479,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/03\/04\/if_it_walks_dow.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":1},"title":"If it walks down the aisle like a duck …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 4-Mar-04 10:12am","format":false,"excerpt":"John Kerry has (maybe) backed making state gay civil unions functionally equivalent to marriage as far as federal rights and benefits are concerned. \"It's the first time in history that...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2004"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2004","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2004"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31138,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/11\/05\/likely-voters-in-colorado-back-legal-recognition-for-gay-couples.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":2},"title":"Likely voters\u00a0in Colorado back legal recognition for gay couples","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 5-Nov-12 12:23pm","format":false,"excerpt":"That's kind of nice to hear. \u00a0Interestingly, more of that number favor marriage over civil unions.Of course, back in 2006, we managed to pass a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. \u00a0So it will be something of a fight to change things around again. And, of course, polls are one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7256,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/04\/14\/i_suppose_of_bo.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":3},"title":"I suppose of both sides are pleased and offended, it’s a good law","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 14-Apr-05 11:46am","format":false,"excerpt":"Connecticut seems well on its way to being the first state to have a non-court-ordered civil unions law for same-sex couples. The state Senate earlier approved a measure that, somewhat...","rel":"","context":"In "Marriage Equality"","block_context":{"text":"Marriage Equality","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/marriage-equality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8341,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/12\/09\/getting_more_th.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":4},"title":"Getting more than a tad embarrassing","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 9-Dec-05 8:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"For a \"land of the free\" and a place based on the idea of inalienable rights to \"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,\" it's getting to be both embarrassing...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26640,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/23\/santorum-opposes-civil-unions-suggests-enriching-lawyers-instead.html","url_meta":{"origin":14417,"position":5},"title":"Santorum opposes civil unions, suggests enriching lawyers instead","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 23-Feb-12 9:48am","format":false,"excerpt":"Rick Santorum trots out the hoary \"Well, with a good lawyer and some contracts, gays who want to hang out together, no matter how disgusting I find that, can do everything that married couples can do, so why give them any societal recognition?\" excuse against marriage equality or even civil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46456,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14417\/revisions\/46456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}