April Fools’ Day marked a new beginning for gay´s in Greenland with a new law, that was approved last year taking effect yesterday allowing same sex marriage in churches in the country.
Until yesterday same sex couples have only been allowed a confirmed cohabitation with a civil ceremonies.
“I’m truly happy that same sex couples now have the same possibilities as straight couples when it comes to matrimony. It’s extremely important to me that everyone enjoys the same rights regardless of their sexual orientations” Mala Høy Kúko, head of environmental and – judicial issues says on the webpage of the government of Greenland.
According to Pink News, The new law was to be adopted from Denmark in 1996, the bill brings Greenland in line with Denmark, which legalized same-sex marriage in 2012, it was announced last February and was originally supposed to go into effect in October but lapsed due to Denmark’s summer parliamentary elections. However, a second, almost-identical bill was submitted to parliament in October 2015 and was once again passed unanimously, receiving Royal Assent in early February. Nivi Olson, the Minister for the Church, said “We have long waited for this day. To have the opportunity to enter into marriage means a lot to many couples regardless of the gender of one’s partner.” Greenland’s Bishop Sofie Petersen – the province’s top religious figure – worked closely with the government to ensure the law would allow same-sex couples to marry in churches and other religious buildings. The joint adoption clause included in Greenland’s new Marriage Act will go into effect on July first.