Congratulations to Sweden, who became the fifth European country to legalize equal marriages! The law passed with an overwhelming 261-22 (66 abstaining) vote in the Parliament! The law goes into effect on May 1. It does not eliminate that country's 15-year old civil union law, however. Rather, it adds to it.
Fox News is funny about it: "the old law [civil unions] stopped short of calling them marriages, which gay rights activists said was discriminatory." So many things wrong with that second phrase.
Other European countries that allow equal marriage: Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain. Two other countries in the world -- South Africa and Canada -- also have equal marriage laws in place. Please note that the U.S. does not even fall on the "civil unions" or "domestic partnership" (which include the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, Iceland, Israel, Luxembourg, Croatia, Czech Republic, Colombia, Australia, Andorra, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Denmark, Finland, and Hungary) list of countries.
Sigh. I guess it's better than being on the "homosexuality is punishable by death list" (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Chad, etc.). In fact, we're a lot like Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina -- some recognition, depending on what part of the country.
Huh. Weird.
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