Mixed reaction as Finnish parliament passes marriage equality bill

FINLAND: Finnish parliament has given a nod to same sex marriage following a successful vote cast. The approval of Marriage equality bill has however sparked uproar with opponents.
By Saturday, the church itself suffered a major blow as a consequence of the bill legalizing gay couples. Evangelical Lutheran church members are reported to have quit in droves after their bishop threw support to the gay relationship.
According to a religious monitoring group, Leave the Church, thousands resigned over the weekend. The group’s data shows that over 2,000 have given up church membership’s hours after same sex bill was passed in parliament.
Reacting to the outcome, Head of Christians Party, Päivi Räsänen criticised the move saying there would be an opportunity to repeal the Act. Räsänen, who is also Internal Ministry minister, said during televised interview; "I believe that in the future a large group of Finns will continue to consider marriage to be a bond between a man and a woman, and that they will not consider relationships between people of the same gender to be marriages."
The minister and other members of parliament will be seeking to make changes to Marriage Act through a European Citizens Initiative to be heard by grand committee. The committee can grant green light to either amendment or rejection of the Act. This means that the outcome can sway in favour or against the Marriage Act despite voting results.
Meanwhile, supporters of the bill busted into celebrations in Finnish Helsinki capital immediately after the announcement of it passing. The group had gathered opposite to those against the bill around parliament precincts while the voting was in process. However no incidents were reported. Colours of rainbow flags donned by youthful faces swung in the air as vote sailed through in parliament by 105 to 92.
For years the same sex gender rights has been under intense discussion in Finland with varied opinions from different groups. The country had however since 2002 allowed registration of same sex partnerships but disallowing name-changing and adoptions.
Church leaders have also been particularly in the spotlight as they amass great influence in public court especially on controversial religious matters.
Lutheran church, which has highest members in Finland has been holding non-discriminatory stance on gay partners. Surprisingly after the vote, Church leader Kari Mäkinen hailed the outcome of the bill.
The leader was quoted in Finnish Broadcasting national channel to have rejoiced with gay community in a social media post. “I know how much this day means to the rainbow community, their loved ones and many others. I rejoice with my whole heart for them and with them,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Finnish becomes the 12th country in Europe to recognize right for gay relationships although the debate has been on for years. Last year, a civil activist tried in unsuccessfully to submit proposal in parliament giving right for gay couples.
Since then, pro-debate activists have been campaigning and yet again managed to sign up thousands of signatures to drive the agenda. With a marginal win, it will be interesting to watch developments as Finnish parliament is set for campaign period for new members next year, a time in which an intense debate on same sex could crop up again.