Brody's Notes... Danish Minister: Same-Sex Weddings By 2012

By Brody Levesque | COPENHAGEN, DENMARK -- In an interview published this past Friday in the Jyllands-Posten- a leading Danish newspaper- the government's appointed Church minister, Manu Sareen, a Social Liberal, said that the government plans to introduce a bill just after the New Year which will allow same-sex couples to hold weddings in the Church of Denmark and be ‘married’ legally as recognised by Danish law.

Currently under the law, same-sex couples are allowed to have ‘registered partnerships’, a civil status, but are barred from marriage and church weddings.

“The first same-sex weddings will hopefully become reality in Spring 2012. I look forward to the moment the first homosexual couple steps out of the church. I’ll be standing out there throwing rice,” Sareen said.

His appointment to the post of minister was one of the more more controversial of the new coalition government. 

He is a professed religious “doubter”, who, before becoming church minister, came awfully close to writing himself off the national church registry, in direct protest against its long-standing ban on same-sex marriage.

“I’m not sure that there’s a god, unfortunately,” Sareen told Jyllands-Posten. “I wish I could believe it. Then I could say: there’s God and because of him I know what happens after we die.”

But if the minister was uncertain about the existence of God, one thing he was absolutely certain of is that homosexuals deserve the same rights as heterosexuals.

“I have many friends who are homosexuals and can’t get married. They love their partners the same way heterosexuals do, but they don’t have the right to live it out in the same way. That’s really problematic,” Sareen said.“Today it would be unthinkable not to have female priests,” he continued. “That’s how it will also be for same-sex weddings.”

While Sareen doubts the existence of God, he said he still enjoys going to church – albeit on rare occasions – to experience the atmosphere of “spirituality, reverence, respect, and humility: things that are missing in our everyday lives." ~  Jyllands-Posten

Denmark was the first country in the world to allow gay civil partnerships with legislation in 1989. But the country stopped short of calling it “marriage” and same-sex couples still are not allowed to have marriage ceremonies in the Church of Denmark. Public polls taken over the years, and right up until last week suggest around 69-percent of the population supports same-sex marriage.

Some clergy however are opposed including Henrik Højlund, a parish priest who was quaoted as saying:

“Lots of people are mistaken in thinking that homosexual weddings are just the next step after female priests. But it is much more consequential and beyond the boundaries for normal Christianity. The Church of Denmark is being secularised right up to the alter in a desperate and mistaken attempt to meet modern people halfway,” he said, adding that same-sex marriage would be “fatal for the church."

Less than five percent of Danes today attend church services on a weekly basis, yet 80 percent are – like Sareen – registered members who pay taxes to support it, but who only rarely attend services. This year alone, the Church of Denmark will receive an estimated 5.9 billion kroner in taxes from its registered members, plus additional tax-supported state subsidies equalling 130 kroner for every single citizen, regardless of religious affiliation, sexual preference, or other beliefs.

Helene Devantié, the chair of Kirketjenerforening, the association for church employees, was willing to allow for same-sex marriages in the Church of Denmark, but only as long as church employees could choose, on an individual basis, whether or not to serve same-sex couples.
Devantié’s demand raised questions about whether church employees – public employees, whose salaries are paid by taxes – should have the right to refuse service to certain citizens, just because they disapprove of their lifestyles or personal attributes.
Sareen said church employees who are set against marrying homosexuals would not be forced to conduct same-sex ceremonies.
Vivi Jelstrup, the co-chair of LGBT Danmark, the association for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transvestites in Denmark, expressed approval that Sareen and the new government are serious about allowing same-sex marriages in the Church of Denmark. But she wanted assurances that the law would also change to provide real equality across the board.

“The churches should have the option of creating local agreements, so that the employees who have ethical or moral problems with homosexuals marrying can exempt themselves,” she said adding: “We also want to see the Justice Minister laying out the groundwork for gender-neutral marriages,” ~  Jyllands-Posten