Same-sex marriage in Iceland

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Iceland since 27 June 2010. A bill providing for a gender-neutral marriage definition was passed by the Icelandic Althing on 11 June 2010. No members of Parliament voted against the bill, and public opinion polls suggest that the bill is very popular in Iceland. Iceland became the ninth country in the world to have legalized same-sex marriage.

Registered partnerships (Icelandic: ) for same-sex couples were introduced in Iceland in 1996. It was adopted by the Althing on 4 June by a vote of 44–1 and entered into force on 27 June 1996. This legislation was repealed with the passing of the gender-neutral marriage law.

The legislation granted the same range of protections, responsibilities and benefits as marriage, and was only available to same-sex couples. All parties in the Alþingi, the Icelandic Parliament, were in favour of the law.

On 8 May 2000, the Icelandic Parliament approved amendments, in a 49-1 vote, to the registered partnership law. Foreigners could enter a registered partnership if they had been residing in Iceland for at least two years. Another amendment allows for a person in a registered partnership to adopt the biological child of his or her partner, unless the child was adopted from a foreign country. Iceland became the second country in the world, after Denmark, to grant same-sex couples some adoption rights.

On 2 June 2006, Parliament voted for legislation granting same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexuals in adoption, parenting and assisted insemination treatment. No member of Parliament voted against the proposal and the law came into effect on 27 June 2006.

An amendment which took force on 27 June 2008 allowed the Church of Iceland and other religious groups to bless same-sex registered partnerships.

Notable Icelandic individuals joined in registered partnership included the then-Prime Minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, and her partner, Jónína Leósdóttir. On 27 June 2010, they had their registered partnership transformed into a recognized marriage.

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