As our gorgeous Norwegian colleague Trine is off on honeymoon (yes, it was the most perfect wedding day of all time, ever), I will share the latest fabulous news from Norway in her absence.
Today, delegates from the country’s Lutheran church voted 88-32 in favour of allowing same-sex marriage in their churches.
According to Norway’s national statistics agency, approximately 74% of the population were members of the Lutheran Church last year, although those numbers have been declining.
“Finally we can celebrate love independently of whom one falls in love with,” said Gard Sandaker-Nilsen, leader of the Open Public Church, a religious movement within the church that had campaigned to change the rules.
Priests who object to performing a same-sex ceremony may still do so and ask for it to be passed on to a colleague.
What this means is that gay couples are ensured the right of being married in their local church even if the officials decline to carry out the service.
Norway is one of the most progressive countries in the world and same-sex civil marriage and adoptions have been legal since 2009.
The Church of Norway also allows the ordination of homosexuals.
But it has been slower than its Scandinavian neighbours on church weddings – Sweden authorized religious same-sex marriage in 2009 and in 2012, Denmark made it mandatory for all churches to offer full religious weddings for same-sex couples.
We wholeheartedly celebrate this news and now wonder – will Irish Catholic churches be next?
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