Finland's
parliament voted down on Friday a citizens' petition demanding the repeal of a
law that will allow same-sex marriages, securing the future of the law that
will come
into force next month.
In the vote,
120 members of parliament were opposed to the petition, while 48 supported it.
"That's
it! The parliament confirms same-sex marriage to be 100 percent certain from
here to eternity. Happy weddings," Green Party leader Ville Niinisto wrote
on Twitter after the vote.
The law,
passed in 2014 by the previous parliament, will end the distinction between
same-sex unions and heterosexual marriages, giving same-sex couples equal
rights to adopt children and share a surname.
Finland has
been the only country in the Nordic region not yet to recognize same-sex
marriage, although gay couples have been able to enter into registered
partnerships since 2002.
Organisers of
the "Genuine Marriage" petition collected more than 100,000
signatures demanding a repeal by arguing that a child was entitled to have both
a mother and a father. In a surprise move, a parliamentary committee scheduled
a vote.
Many lawmakers
were opposed in principle to revising recent decisions, and only majority of
MP's in the co-ruling Finns party, as well as in the opposition party Christian
Democrats, voted in favor of the petition.
Bills on
same-sex marriage had been blocked three times since 2006 until a petition
brought about the 2014 bill, which passed by 101 votes to 90.
REUTERS
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