Gay Danish couples can wed in church

Denmark has passed a law allowing same-sex couples to marry in churches.

Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt announced in March that gay couples would be allowed to marry from June 15, but the new laws mean the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark – to which 80 percent of the Danish population belongs – will be able to perform marriage ceremonies.

New rites were written up by ten of the Church’s eleven bishops in a spirit of “good cooperation”, according to local news reports.

Priests are not obliged to carry out ceremonies for same-sex couples, but if they refuse under the new laws the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church.

Denmark’s church minister Manu Sareen called the vote “historic”.

“I think it’s very important to give all members of the church the possibility to get married,” Sareen said.

“Today, it’s only heterosexual couples.”

The law passed in a vote by 85 to 25 after an opposition amendment creating a separate system of marriage for gay couples under different terminology was rejected yesterday.

Denmark now joins European countries including Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Portugal in allowing same-sex couples equal marriage rights.

France plans to introduce same-sex marriage and adoption legislation shortly.