Gay couples in Norway will be granted the same rights as heterosexuals to marry, adopt and undergo artificial insemination under a new equality law passed Tuesday.
Norway's upper house of parliament voted 23-17 in favor of the gender-neutral marriage law on the same day that gay couples were marrying in California.
The law replaces 1993 legislation that gave gays the right to enter civil unions similar to marriage but did not allow church weddings or adoption. It takes effect Jan. 1.
"We are so overjoyed. We have worked for this for so long," said Jon Reidar Oeyan, leader of the Norwegian National Association of Lesbian and Gay Liberation.
"Now we are going to celebrate," he said. "I didn't dare until I heard the chairman of the upper house bang the hammer."
A parliamentary majority had announced agreement on the legislation last month, and the lower house voted 84-41 in favor last week.
Opponents, including the Christian Democrats and the Party of Progress, argued that children need both a mother and a father in a traditional family; opposed assisted pregnancy for lesbians, and said the law was rushed through the legislature.
The law gives individual congregations and clergy the right but not the legal obligation to perform wedding ceremonies for gay couples.
About 85 percent of Norway's 4.7 million people are registered as members of the state Lutheran Church of Norway, although far fewer are active.
Since the church is split on gay "marriage," the church is likely to allow each congregation to decide on whether to allow gay wedding ceremonies, as it did last year in allowing parishes to decide whether to accept clergymen living in gay partnerships.
In 1989, Denmark became the world's first country to allow civil unions for gays, similar to Norway's outgoing law. In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to offer full marriage rights to gay couples.
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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LOL! Listen to all the hecklers on this forum. Do you think God can be mocked? Go ahead and heckle, your days are numbered. Your perversion has no bounds.
Remember, God has always allow for ample time to repent and the mockers thought they were getting away with their sin, but the day always comes.
Repent and come to the cross before it's too late.
Hi Fellow Believers!
Who here says every word in the Bible is true? Who here endorses 100% of the Bible, every statement as the wishes of God! If in the Bible, I can find an "order" of God, and if you do NOT 100% execute it, I consider you literalists to have LOST.
Who here takes my challenge? Is there a soul here in this room that agrees 100% with every phrase and statement in the Bible? And will there be NOTHING I can find thats a commandment in the Bible that you not 100% completely agree with?
This ought to be interesting. Any takers?
biggie said:
"MY FELLOW CHRISTIANS! BE LIKE JESUS AND ACCEPT LOVE"
gays dont know love like Jesus does. Jesus was sent by the Father to Reconcile them to him. If they reject TRUTH they reject Jesus. How evil to say they know better than God. Hmmm didnt Lucifer say something like that??
Yes i think he did.
Isaiah 14:12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Isaiah 14:13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
Isaiah 14:15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Isaiah 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
I love progress, especially when it annoys theists.
Let me answer you through the words of the Bible:
Jude 1:4-16
"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day - just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.
It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage."
THIS DAY IS WONDERFUL!!!!
Come now, all you wonderful Christians! Follow Jesus's example and let LOVE into your hearts! Accept same-sex marriages and forever more you will be more like Christ. I challenge: Do you really know the spirit of your Bible? I think not! You are lost! The Bible is a historical document frozen in time back 2000 years ago. How much the world has changed!
Consider this: Our U.S. Constitution has an amendment process. Some laws become irrelevant. Admit that the Bible has irrelevant information, my Dear Christians. Do you not know??
Love no matter its form can NEVER be a sin!
Follow the LOVE of JESUS! Accept these glories same-sex unions. Accept the world isn't flat. Accept that the sun doesn't orbit around the earth. Accept that women have a voice. Accept that LOVE can exist and be legally recognized among two consenting adults!
For LOVE between two consenting adults can NEVER be a SIN!
Man + Man = Love
Woman + Woman = Love
Man + Woman = Love
MY FELLOW CHRISTIANS! BE LIKE JESUS AND ACCEPT LOVE!