Sweden Legalizes Gay Marriage

[SirJosephPorter]

Sweden has become the latest country to legalize gay marriage. Swedish Parliament overwhelmingly approved the legislation. Gays will be legally able to marry starting May 1.

Sweden votes in favor of legalizing gay marriage

Sweden already had civil unions, which gave gays the same rights as heterosexuals. This completes the final step in the push towards equality.

I have always considered civil union as a stepping stone towards gay marriage, which finally guarantees gays equal rights, same as any other citizen. Most of the Europe already has civil union for gays, so the next step is to try to legalize gay marriage in one country after another.

And gays have succeeded in Sweden.

The new legislation eliminates legal distinctions between heterosexual and homosexual spouses, but does not force dissenting clergy to wed gay couples.

The Swedish Lutheran church, which split from the state in 2000, has said it was open to celebrating and registering same-sex unions, although it wanted to reserve the term matrimony for heterosexual marriages

So congratulations, Sweden, for entering the 21st century. Sweden has always been in the vanguard when it comes to human rights. But somehow in this issue it lagged behind, Canada was ahead of Sweden. Anyway, I knew Sweden would be one of the earliest countries to legalize gay marriage; it was not really a big surprise.

Also, the action is largely symbolic. Gays already had most of the rights in the form of civil union. Besides, marriage isn’t exactly popular in Sweden these days even among heterosexuals; I think a majority of the babies there are born out of wedlock, to unmarried parents. So it was a symbolic victory.

However, the struggle for civil rights, equal rights is long, slow and painful, whether it is abolishing slavery, giving women the vote, or giving equal rights to gays. Usually it is three steps forward, two steps back (look at California). So any victory along the way, however small, is welcome.

So congratulations to Sweden, congratulations to gay community in Sweden. The struggle for equal rights to all humans has marched that much ahead today.

 

[RanchHand]

I'll bite. Classic dodge of equating a man marrying a man as a 'human right', similar to freeing of slaves.
"Also, the action is largely symbolic. Gays already had most of the rights in the form of civil union. Besides, marriage isn't exactly popular in Sweden these days even among heterosexuals; I think a majority of the babies there are born out of wedlock, to unmarried parents."

Lovely. Babies of single mothers is at epidemic proportions in the US. Tell me you don't think unwed mothers is progress?

 

[petros]

Way to go Sweden!

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Lovely. Babies of single mothers is at epidemic proportions in the US. Tell me you don't think unwed mothers is progress?

RanchHand, situation of unwed mothers is totally different in USA compared to Sweden (or Europe).

In USA, single mothers are mostly teenagers. They become pregnant due to lack of sex education and lack of ready availability of contraceptives to teenagers. They have neither resources, ability nor inclination to care for a baby. The baby pretty much ruins the mother's life, usually she ends up on welfare. Or may take a series of lovers one after the other, some of whom my abuse her child. Or she may just decide to get an abortion. Abortion rate is high among teenagers.

Teenage pregnancy (and single motherhood resulting from that) is a big problem in USA.

In Scandinavia, however, it is totally different. They have very few sexual hang-ups that Americans do. Sex education is readily available, contraceptives are readily available. Pope’s influence is almost non existent, they don’t have a stern, grim faced Patriarch exhorting them to abstain from sex, to ‘just say no’.

As a result there are very few teenage pregnancies in Scandinavia. Single mothers tend to be older, more mature, more financially secure. In many cases, the mother may be living with a man (or a woman), without getting married. So it is not really correct to call them single mothers.

Sweden has very few of the social problems we see in USA. Problems such as unwanted pregnancy, teenage mothers, high abortion rate (most of Europe and Scandinavia have a much lower abortion rate than USA), high crime rate (I think statistics show that a child of a teenage, single mother is more likely to resort to crime).

So to answer your question, no, single motherhood in USA is not a sign of progress, it is a result of the sexually repressive nature of American society. However, single motherhood in Sweden (and Scandinavia) is very much a sign of progress. That is a sign that the society is entering a post Christian era, where marriage and commitment to God do not count for as much.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

I'll bite. Classic dodge of equating a man marrying a man as a 'human right', similar to freeing of slaves.

They indeed are equivalent, RanchHand. And I have noticed something about conservatives. They never support any struggle by minorities for equal rights. They are all for equal rights for minorities, which were granted a generation or two ago, but not what they are demanding today.

Let us start from slavery. Conservatives (the Bible Belt, the South) opposed abolition of slavery. They fought a civil war over it. According to conservative positions, most slaves, if freed, will voluntarily go back to slavery. Freeing the slave would mean and of civilization as we know it.

When it came to giving women the vote, conservatives were pretty much on board with freeing the slaves, they had no problem with that. However, they were totally opposed to giving women the vote. I saw a program about the suffragist movement a while ago. Some of the advertisements anti-women’s vote put up were astounding to say the least. E.g. one ad claimed that if a woman is given the vote, she will wear the pants in the marriage.

So at that time, conservatives had no problem with abolishing slavery, but giving women the vote would mean end to the civilization as we know it.

Now let us move the segregation in the bible Belt, in the 50s. by then conservatives had no problem with abolishing slavery, they had no problem with women’s vote. But they had a big problem with integrating blacks and whites. Integrating blacks and white in schools churches, universities, buses etc. would lead to end of civilization as we know it.

Coming to the present, conservatives are pretty much on board with abolishing slavery, giving women the vote, ending segregation, ending discrimination against blacks etc. However, letting gays marry will end the civilization as we know it.

So conservatives are always for civil rights granted a generation or two ago, but never for civil rights currently demanded.

Thus, during suffragist movement, conservatives argued that giving women the vote is not same as abolishing slavery, it must not be done.

During desegregation argument, they argued that it is not the same as abolishing slavery or giving women the vote, and it must not be done.

Now they are arguing that gay marriage is not the same as abolishing the slavery, giving women the vote, ending segregation in the South etc. and must not be done.

However, in my opinion, it is the part of the same continuum. We are slowly moving forward in the continuum, with conservatives opposing it every bit of the way.

 

[L Gilbert]

Way to go Sweden!

Ditto that.