Registered partnerships (Danish: registreret partnerskab) in Denmark were created by a law enacted on June 7, 1989, the world's first such law, and came into force on October 1, 1989.[1] It was extended to Greenland in 1996 and later amended in 1999. Registered partnerships have almost all the same qualities as marriage. All legal and fiscal rights and obligations are like those of opposite-sex marriage, with the following two exceptions:
Divorce for registered partners follow the same rules as opposite-sex divorces. Registered partners must meet one of the following residency requirements to form a union: (1) one partner must be a Danish citizen and be resident in Denmark, or (2) both parties must have been resident in Denmark for two years. Citizens of Finland, Iceland, and Norway are treated as Danish citizens for purposes of the residency requirements. Additionally, the Justice Minister may order citizenship in any other country with a law similar to Denmark's be treated as a citizen of Denmark.[2]
On March 17, 2009, the Folketing introduced a bill that gives same-sex couples in registered partnerships the right to adopt jointly.[3] This bill was approved on 4 May 2010 and took effect on 1 July 2010.[4]
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In 2006, five Social Liberal MPs introduced a resolution that asked the Government to draft a gender-neutral marriage law. The resolution was debated in Parliament and opposed by members of the conservative governing coalition.[5] The Minister for the Family, Carina Christensen, argued that registered partners already had the same rights as married partners except the ability to marry in church, and thus that gender-neutral marriage was unnecessary. Aside from the Social Liberals, the resolution received support from left-wing parties such as the Red-Green Alliance, the Socialist People's Party and the Social Democrats.
In January 2008, the Social Liberal Party's Equality Rapporteur, Lone Dybkjær, once again called for gender-neutral marriage (kønsneutrale ægteskab).[6]
The Copenhagen Mayor for Culture and Recreation, Pia Allerslev, from the conservative governing Venstre party, has also publicly supported same-sex marriage,[7] as has the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard.[8]
The Prime Minister of Denmark between November 2001 and April 2009, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was personally in favour of gender-neutral marriage, as well as religious marriages for same-sex couples in the Church of Denmark, but insisted that he was speaking in his personal capacity as a church member, and not as Prime Minister. The opposition Social Democrats criticised him for a lack of action on same-sex marriage, arguing that Denmark was falling behind its Scandinavian neighbours.[9]
In July 2009, at a human rights conference organised as part of the World Outgames held in Copenhagen, Kamal Qureshi of the Socialist People's Party expressed his strong support for same-sex marriage. He stated that, by not legalising same-sex marriage, including church marriages, "Denmark has laws forbidding human rights".[10]
In June 2010, the Parliament once again debated a same-sex marriage bill proposed by the opposition parties. It was rejected by all parties of the governing coalition, as well as the Danish People's Party, on a 51-57 vote.[11]
In October 2011 Manu Sareen, Minister for Equality and Church Affairs in the new Danish government, announced the government is seeking to legalize same-sex marriage by spring 2012. The bill for the new marriage law is to be introduced around New Year.[12]
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