Same-sex marriage in Sweden

Same-sex marriage in Sweden has been legal since 1 May 2009, following the adoption of a new, gender-neutral law on marriage by the Swedish parliament on 1 April 2009, making Sweden the seventh country in the world to open marriage to same-sex couples nationwide. Existing registered partnerships will remain in force, and can be converted to a marriage if the parties so desire, either through a written application or through a formal ceremony. New registered partnerships will no longer be able to be entered into and marriage will be the only legally recognized form of union for couples regardless of sex.

On 22 October 2009, the governing board of the Church of Sweden, voted 176–62 in favour of allowing its priests to wed same-sex couples in new gender-neutral church ceremonies, including the use of the term marriage. Same-sex marriages have been performed by the church since 1 November 2009.

Registered partnership was granted in Sweden in 1995. It was approved in June 1994 by a vote of 171–141 and took effect on 1 January 1995. Sweden was the third country to legally recognise same-sex unions, after Denmark and Norway.

The registered partnership gave the full range of protections, responsibilities and benefits as marriage, including adoption and arrangements for the breakdown of the relationship only available to same-sex couples. Same-sex registered partners could adopt jointly. In vitro fertilisation for lesbian couples was allowed in 2005. Non-Swedes who were legally resident in Sweden have had the right to enter into registered partnerships since 2000.

The main distinction between registered partnership and marriage was that they were covered by separate laws, and that same-sex partnerships were a civil matter and could not be conducted through the church authority. Many people complained about this inequality, asking for a gender-neutral marriage law. Many said they would have liked a gender-neutral marriage that would be conducted solely by the state, as is done in several other countries, rather than the current system in which churches have the authority to (legally) marry people, because this would further the separation of church and state.

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Wikipedia