Same-sex marriage in the Faroe Islands

Same-sex marriage legislation first appeared in the Løgting after the Tórshavn gay pride parade in 2012. A set of bills to extend Denmark's same-sex marriage legislation to the Faroe Islands was submitted to the Løgting on 20 November 2013. If approved, they would have entered into force on 1 April 2014.[1][2][3] Opposition to the bills from the parties of the governing coalition crippled its passage and the bills were rejected at the second reading on 13 March 2014,[4] despite popular public support.[5][6][7][8]

Same-sex marriage became a significant issue during the September 2015 elections.[9]

Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe¹

  Marriage

  Civil union

  Limited domestic recognition (cohabitation)

  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)

  Unrecognized

  Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples

¹ May include recent laws or court decisions that have not yet entered into effect.

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Following the election, independent member Sonja Jógvansdóttir, along with Republic member Bjørt Samuelsen, Social Democratic member Kristianna Winther Poulsen and Progress member Hanna Jensen submitted a same-sex marriage proposal identical to the 2013 bill to the Parliament Secretariat.[10] The proposal, along with a bill permitting same-sex divorce, entered the Løgting on 17 November 2015. If approved, the law would be scheduled to go into effect on 1 July 2016.

The first reading took place on 24 November 2015.[11][12] Though a majority of the committee scrutinising the bill were said to be in favour of same-sex marriage,[13] the second reading of the bill was postponed to the third week of March 2016.[13][14] On 14 March 2016, the Welfare Committee presented their recommendation to the Løgting. Despite divisions, a majority of committee members including Katrin Kallsberg, Sonja Jógvansdóttir, Óluva Klettskarð and Djóni N. Joensen recommended the Parliament to pass the bill. Members of the committee in the minority, such as Kaj Leo Johannesen, Jenis av Rana and Jógvan á Lakjuni, recommended that the Løgting reject the bill.[15]

The second reading of the bill was held on 16 March 2016.[16] There was not a majority for the proposal, as two members from the coalition, Kristin Michelsen and Heðin Mortensen of the Social Democratic Party, said that they could not vote in favor of the proposal at that point, and suggested that the bill be sent back to the Welfare Committee. They and several other members of the Løgting raised concerns that the legislation would mandate a right to same-sex marriages in the Church of the Faroe Islands.

Following a short break, the 26 members of the Løgting voted to send the bill back to the committee, only 2 members opposed and 5 abstained.[17][18][19] During the debate, several conservative members, who had vocally stated their opposition to same-sex partnerships in the past, said they would support legalizing registered partnerships for same-sex couples.

Some members of the Løgting raised concerns about Section 14,2 of the Danish Marriage Act (Danish: Ægteskabsloven; Faroese: Hjúnabandslóg), which stated that couples who have a civil marriage may have their marriage blessed by the state church.[20] In response to this concern, the Welfare Committee later moved an amendment stating that the proposed new marriage law in the Faroe Islands would not be implemented by the Løgting before Section 14,2 had been either deleted or refrased.[20]

The bill returned to the Løgting in its amended form for a second reading on 26 April 2016.[21] Debate began at 11am and concluded well after midnight on 27 April. During the debate, Heðin Mortensen of the Social Democratic Party introduced a proposal to conduct a referendum on the subject, which precipitated a crisis in the Coalition Government.[22][23] During a 90-minute break in proceedings, Mortensen engaged in high-level talks on the matter with Prime Minister Aksel V. Johannesen and other members of the Løgting. He eventually withdrew his proposal, telling Kringvarp Føroya that he would not risk dividing or even possibly dissolving the Coalition Government.[24]

A few minutes later, a vote was held on the second reading, resulting in 19 votes in favour of the bill and 14 against. Every Government MP, Independent MP Sonja Jógvansdóttir, and two Opposition MPs (Magni Laksáfoss and Edmund Joensen of the Union Party) voted in favor.[25][26][27] The bill was approved in its third reading on 29 April, again by a 19–14 vote.[28][29][30] At this point, a vote was held on a proposal for a referendum on the subject, though it was defeated in a 16–17 vote.[31]

The Faroese bill required amendments to Danish marriage law to be enacted by the Danish Parliament. A bill to this effect was introduced to the Danish Parliament on 8 February 2017,[33][34] and had its first reading on 28 February 2017.[35][36] The relevant parliamentary committee approved the bill on 4 April, and the second reading was held on 20 April 2017.[37][38] The bill passed third and final reading on 25 April 2017, by a vote of 108–0, with 71 abstentions.[39] It received royal assent on 3 May 2017.[40][33][41] On 30 May 2017, the Løgting passed legislation which exempts the Church of the Faroe Islands from the obligation to bless same-sex marriages, by a vote of 18–14 with no abstentions.[42][43][44] Finally, a Danish royal decree formally necessary to give effect to the initial Løgting decision of 29 April 2016 was issued on 12 June 2017 and published on 16 June 2017.[45] Same-sex marriages have been available from 1 July 2017, the date the law came into effect.[46] The first same-sex wedding in the Faroe Islands was performed on 6 September 2017.[47][48]