Switzerland approved marriage equality in referendum

Switzerland adopted same-sex marriage this Sunday by referendum, which will allow these couples to adopt children or have access to assisted procreation techniques in the case of women.

64% of the Swiss who voted in the referendum voted in favor of this initiative, proposed by the government after eight years of political and parliamentary debates on the need to recognize the rights and duties of same-sex couples concerning heterosexual couples.

With the exception of the radical right-wing party UDC, certain religious groups and others who have argued that marriage should be reserved for a couple composed of a man and a woman, the rest of the political groups supported the initiative, of which the Greens La Fête was the banner.

Switzerland thus becomes the thirtieth country in the world to accept this marriage figure. and he comes from the small group of Western European countries that had not yet legalized equal marriage and in which Italy, Greece and Liechtenstein remained, although all three have different types of legal figures who recognize these unions.

Until now, Switzerland governed the union of two persons of the same sex by the “Registered alliances”, a figure approved in 2007 and which guarantees them since the same rights as heterosexual spouses, such as choosing a common surname, accessing the inheritance of the spouse or the widow’s income, among others, and since 2018, it also allows them to adopt the couple’s son.

From now on, couples of married women will be able to access sperm donation in Switzerland, where anonymous donation is prohibited, so that the child will be able to know the identity of the donor when he is 18 years old, although both women are recognized as mothers from birth.

On the other hand, surrogacy (called “surrogacy”) is not allowed in the case of male couples, who have the option of adopting.

The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage twenty years ago.

With information from the EFE