Sweden Considers Gay Marriage
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Stockholm) The Swedish government will consider next year whether to abolish its civil partnership law and replace it with full marriage.

The civil partnership law was enacted in 1995 and gives most of the rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples who register. But the country's LGBT community has recently stepped up lobbying to have the law amended to permit gays and lesbians to marry.

A parliamentary committee studying the issue calls civil partnerships outdated and is recommending Parliament allow same-sex marriage. It also would allow gay couples to marry in churches.

The head of LGBT rights group Riks-Ekho welcomed the recommendations. "Those of us who have entered a civil union would have chosen to marry if the opportunity had existed,” Arthur Thiery told Swedish broadcaster SVT. “The important thing for us is that marriage in church is upheld. We don’t want to do away with the church ceremony.”

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