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Denmark to get gay marriage

By on October 24, 2011

Denmark is the latest European nation to announce plans to introduce gay marriage, with same-sex couples to be allowed to marry on Church of Denmark premises.

The Danish coalition Government’s church minister, Manu Sareen, told local newspaper Jyllands-Posten that gay men and women will soon be able to marry when legislation is introduced early next year.

“I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I’ll be standing out there throwing rice,” he said.

“I have many friends who are homosexuals and can’t get married. They love their partners the same way heterosexuals do, but they don’t have the right to live it out in the same way. That’s really problematic.”

Denmark was the first country in the world to allow gay civil partnerships with legislation in 1989. Public polls suggest around 69-percent of the population supports same-sex marriage according, The Copenhagen Post reports.

The first same-sex weddings could take place as early as March, 2012 after the legislation is passed.

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18 Comments

  1. Brenton

    October 24, 2011 at 12:25 pm


    And Guess why? The Danes voted in their recent election for the ‘progressive Left’ and kicked out the ‘Looney Right’!!!!!

  2. Hey

    October 24, 2011 at 7:40 pm


    Sure, Brenton. also, 80% of the country supports gay marriage.

  3. Jordan

    October 24, 2011 at 8:27 pm


    And thank God for that, Brenton.

    Yet another country voting for equal rights for all. There is hope.

  4. Obuibod

    October 24, 2011 at 9:10 pm


    I can’t figure out how to upvote.

  5. Danny

    October 24, 2011 at 9:19 pm


    Good thing for our neighbours! They have been heading the wrong direction for quite some time now with rasict right-wings parties in gournment but now there is hope even for “Nordens svarta får”.

  6. Simon

    October 24, 2011 at 9:24 pm


    Actually it’s possible for gay people to get married already as long as the priest will approve of it

  7. Michael

    October 24, 2011 at 9:40 pm


    Equal righs for all, are you kidding me? Maybe in couple-rights but definately not in economics. Actually the election was only won by 8500 votes.

    Seems to me that none of you are from Denmark. If you think equal rights is the highest taxes in the world, a fee to enter our own capital and 15 breaches of promises in the first month – then you are right. Statistics show that the government has never become this unpopular so quickly in Denmarks history and if an election was made now the right would win very big.

  8. Jens

    October 24, 2011 at 11:45 pm


    And the above post from Michael is our version of a right wing teabagger, its not as potent as the american kind and not as crazy (he probably accepts evolution) but its still annoying.

  9. Poopy

    October 25, 2011 at 1:35 am


    Another one bites the dust. Europe will cave in on itself soon, there is the extreme liberalism and the extreme Islam culture. No good can come from it when the Protestant based Europeans turn gay and Muslims keep popping them out every 9 months.

    Good riddance to bad rubbish.

  10. Ochoa from CA

    October 25, 2011 at 3:02 am


    I’m happy for your country! I’m from California and we were given this right for a few months. Unfortunately it only lasted a few months and again the right-wing took our rights away again! There is hope though! Wish you all the best!

  11. John

    October 25, 2011 at 3:20 am


    Another victory for the LGBT Community. Yes!!!

  12. Thomas

    October 25, 2011 at 6:30 am


    @Michael

    Having protected rights and left wing economic policies are not mutually exclusive. If you think having low taxes somehow makes everything a utopia, you can take my spot over here in America.

  13. Pingback: Denmark Announces Imminent Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage | Gay Blog | Gay News

  14. Brenton

    October 25, 2011 at 12:10 pm


    Michael, perhaps you should tell everyone about the former Conservative government, having to be in Coalition with the Danish People’s Party! Please tell us all about the Danish People’s Party and their policies! Better to have a few higher taxes and more personal freedoms, I think!

  15. Ruben

    October 25, 2011 at 5:06 pm


    the problem with this legislation though, is that it’s not only that they are allowed to be married. it’s that they will be married in the “christian” state church. Now i don’t have a problem with homoseksual people, but the bible (which is the foundation of christianity, and therefore the church) clearly states that homoseksuality is a sin. (God hates sin! but loves the sinner). but when people get married in the church of Denmark they are blessed in the name of God. when the CHURCH goes against what the bible says, it is no more a church. now this is not a problem to me, as i’m not a member of that particular church, but it should still be based on the words of the bible. if it isn’t based on the bible, it isn’t a christian church anymore. and then there really isn’t anything to fight for anymore. they want to be married in a church, but they still can’t.

    it’s a church! not a humanitarian organisation.

  16. Brenton

    October 25, 2011 at 6:31 pm


    Ruben, if public funding was removed from the Danish church there wouldn’t be a church anymore! 5% of Danes go to church, probably down to 4% as we speak. A few same-sex weddings will probaly put a few people in the pews for a change!

  17. Gregg

    October 27, 2011 at 8:26 pm


    @Simon – not true – as of now, lgbt’s can get a unofficial “blessing” in the church if they want one – but it happens after the registration ceremony (that takes 15 seconds) at town hall. And not all ministers are willing to perform such a blessing.

    Actually one thing that everyone’s forgetting to mention is what impact this will have on OTHER laws that this move will bring with it.

    1. If they chose to call this “marriage”, and not just “registered partnership that is now allowed to happen in a church building”, then the old partnership laws will have to be abolished.

    2. this would mean that lgbt’s would now be allowed to adopt, which at the moment is only allowed in VERY specific situations (one of the partners is the biological parent, and the other biological parent willingly gives up all parental rights…).

    3. Foreign lgbt’s living in Denmark will also be allowed to marry OTHER foreign lgbt’s. At the moment, one of the registered partners must be either a permanent residents or citizen, and only if they meet certain living requirements.

    I’m happy about the move, but I’m also terrified that someone’s going to figure out real soon that it’s not just about being able to be “married” inside a church building. I’m waiting to see what the lawbooks say after everything becomes official.

    p.s. – I’m an ex-pat living in Denmark since 2000. Also a registered partner, and very gay. ;o)

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