Switzerland has voted to legalise same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, with 64.1% of citizens voting “yes” in the referendum.
Break out the champagne and blast Chromatica because the LGBT community has a new reason to celebrate.
In “a nearly two-thirds majority” vote on Sunday, Swiss citizens voted in favour of same-sex marriage and adoption by LGBT couples. Specifically, 64.1% of voters voiced their support for this next step in LGBT rights.
At the same time, the results showed the supportive votes were “a majority in all of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, or states”.
When speaking to the AFP news agency (a media outlet based in Paris, France), Jan Muller, a member of the “yes” campaign committee said:
“It is a historic day for Switzerland, a historic day when it comes to equality for same-sex couples, and it is also an important day for the whole LGBT community.”
WE DID IT WE DID IT WE DID IT GAY MARRIAGE IS LEGAL IN SWITZERLAND ITS FINALLY GOING TO BE LEGAL AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 😭💕🏳️🌈#Ehefueralle pic.twitter.com/07cyYDAoif
— ✨🌋Sad Soft Boi🐺✨ (@KasaTheDogARTS) September 26, 2021
Switzerland’s Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter also revealed that the country’s first cases of same-sex marriage would take place in July 2022.
“Whoever loves each other and wants to get married will be able to do so, regardless of whether it is two men, two women, or a man and a woman,” Keller Sutter said.
“The state does not have to tell citizens how they should lead their lives.”
Even though Switzerland authorised same-sex civil partnerships in 2007, the laws surrounding it (according to Al Jazeera) “[did] not provide the same rights as marriage”. This includes adoption and attaining citizenship.
However, because of the vote, LGBT couples in the western European country will not have to worry.
Monika Rueegger, a member of the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), expressed her disappointment when speaking to Reuters.
“This was not about love and feelings; it was about children’s welfare. Children and fathers are the losers here,” Rueegger said.
MARRIAGE FOR ALL IS APPROVED IN SWITZERLAND EVERYONE JUMP🥳🥳
— Lara²⁸ᴴ (@Williardislife2) September 26, 2021
The vote marks Switzerland as one of the last countries in western Europe to legalise same-sex marriage.
According to BBC News, the now-passed law was originally passed in Swiss parliament in December. However, the country’s conservative party gathered the 50,000 “signatures [needed] to force a referendum”.
