Danish First Minister supports religious marriage between gays

The context

On October 1, 1985, Denmark was the first country in the world to approve same sex marriage in its council, baptized as “registered cooperation”. But homosexuals have since fought for the right to a religious marriage.

Some priests, who favor this claim, have since celebrated a good number of private religious ceremonies, which were really religious marriages. This controversial issue is the object of regular lively debates for almost 20 years.

In 1997, the 11 Bishops of the Kingdom, who are very divided in this issue, finally reached a compromise about the blessing of civil marriages between homosexuals, but hiding ritual phrase “do you take as your husband/wife” during the ceremony and the marriage record in the parochial office.

AFP AGENCY, COPENHAGEN. - Danish First Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, stated recently that he is in favor of religious marriages between homosexuals. This decision heightens the debate about this issue that is currently dividing the ecclesiastic world.

“it is hard for me to believe that God had more strained relationships with homosexuals and lesbians than with others”, stated Rasmussen during an interview published by the free magazine ‘Soendagsavisen'. He followed by saying that this is his personal opinion about the issue.

“As a member of the Estate Church (Lutheran-Evangelist, I believe it will be fair” that homosexuals be treated the same as heterosexuals, added the First Minister, insisting in the personal nature of this stand.

Regarding this, Bishop Roskilde (Copenhagen region), rated Rasmussen statements as “brave”. “Personally, I don't have anything against the fact that homosexuals exchange nuptials in the church, but my colleagues are far from sharing my point of view”, stated the leader in the edition of the popular newspaper ‘Ekstra Bladet'. / Back to top

Reactions

GLADD asked the media to review President's comments and his use of the word loaded with religious meaning “sanctity”, when referring to the status of civil marriage. In addition, this organization pointed out that the President “seems to ignore or shows his lack of knowledge about…the current federal law.”

In the mean time, Matt Foreman, executive director of NGLTF, jumped on the insinuation that gay men and women are “sinners”, and just as his counterparts, remarked that the Bush administration has “taken weeks to reach the idea of proposing legislation that was approved by a bill in 1996."

PlanetOut.com - Different activist groups protested against President Bush's declarations and actions about marriage between same sec couples.

Among the activist groups that expressed their opinion are: Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD), National Lesbian and Gay Task Force (NGLTF) and National Stonewall Democrats.

When asked about his perspective about homosexuality, the head of state replied: “ I am mindful that we're all sinners, and I caution those who may try to take the speck out of the neighbor's eye when they got a log in their own.", “"On the other hand, that does not mean that somebody like me needs to compromise on an issue such as marriage," he added. "I believe in the sanctity of marriage. I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman, and I think we ought to codify that one way or the other” He continued, "That is the definition of marriage, and we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that."

Many legal experts believe that the current law is vulnerable to constitutional challenge; once marriage is legalized in one State of the Union. Because of this, those opposed to same sex marriages want a constitutional amendment that would prevent state or federal courts from having different marriage laws. / Back to top