Iceland Unanimously Approves Gay Marriage

The United States' claim to be "the land of the free" and a nation that grants freedom of religion to all citizens became a bit more farcical as the tiny nation of Iceland demonstrated what true religious freedom means: marriage for all citizens, gay of straight, rather than the enshrinement of a particular Christo-fascist religious belief on all citizens. With a number of U.S. religious denominations fully allowing same sex marriage in their churches and other denominations like the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church recognizing same sex relations, the federal ban and numerous state bans on recognition of of gay marriage or even domestic partnerships becomes more blatantly the establishment of one particular religious belief as the law of the land - something obviously unconstitutional under both the federal and state constitutions. Yet legislators and courts still vote and rule in favor of unconstitutional laws. Here are some highlights from Pink News on developments in Iceland:
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Politicians in Iceland have passed a law legalising gay marriage. The country, which is the only one in the world to have an out gay leader, prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, passed the law today.
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All 49 lawmakers approved the change, which will see the words "man and man, woman and woman" added to marriage legislation. The law allows churches to perform gay weddings if they wish and says "ministers will always be free to perform [gay] marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to".
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The country's president has to approve the bill but is highly likely to do so as this is a formality and public opinion is in favour of the change. . . . Iceland repealed laws banning homosexuality in the 1940s. In 2006, it widened provisions to give gay couples all the reproductive and parenting rights open to straight couples.
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The country is the seventh in Europe to legalise gay marriage.