Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir Iceland has changed its laws to allow gay marriage, in a vote that went through with no political resistance. The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero, to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between 'man and man, woman and woman,' in addition to unions between men and women. The liberal country is the only nation in the world to have an openly gay leader, Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir. Political scientist at the University of Iceland, Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, has told Reuters: "the attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic. It has not been a big issue in national politics - it's not been controversial." He says the prime minister's sexual orientation garnered far more interest among foreign media than in Iceland, where the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades. The law allows churches to perform gay weddings if they wish, saying ministers will always be free to perform marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to. Iceland's protestant church has not yet decided whether it will hold the ceremonies, which replace registered partnerships. The country is the seventh in Europe to legalise gay marriage. The move still needs to be approved by the nation's president, but that is considered only a formality.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 12th June 2010 - 12:26pm