Same-sex marriage in Finland

A bill for the legalisation of same-sex marriages was approved by the Finnish Parliament in a vote of 101–90 on 12 December 2014, and signed into law by President Sauli Niinistö on 20 February 2015.

Finland was the last Nordic sovereign state, the twelfth country in Europe and the twentieth in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide.

[5] The Parliament revised the law in May 2009, allowing a person in a registered partnership to adopt the biological children of their partner.

[10][11] A poll conducted by Christian newspaper Kotimaa in March 2010 showed that a narrow majority of Finnish MPs opposed same-sex marriage.

63% of Social Democratic lawmakers supported same-sex marriage as well as all MPs from the Greens and the Left Alliance.

[12][13] However, a later survey in April 2010 by Helsingin Sanomat reported that there was cross-party support for same-sex marriage and joint adoption rights.

[19][20] Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb, who held a speech at the opening ceremony of Helsinki Pride week on 28 June 2010, said he supports a gender-neutral marriage law with full adoption rights for same-sex couples.

[25] Upon joining the Katainen Cabinet, the Christian Democrats required assurance that no government bill would legalise same-sex marriage.

[28][29][30] On 21 March 2012, after five months of signature gathering among MPs, the bill to legalize same-sex marriage was submitted to Parliament.

Within six months, the committee must notify the signatories about its intended course of action, such as conducting specialist hearings or deciding whether to recommend the initiative for a vote in the plenary session.

[56][57] Due to the Parliament not accepting the recommendation, the Grand Committee continued consideration of the initiative on 3 December 2014, eventually voting 17–8 in favour.

[58][59] The legislation was approved 101–90 by the full session of Parliament in its final reading on 12 December, and was signed into law by President Sauli Niinistö on 20 February 2015.

[b] Parliament also approved a statement requiring the next government to draft necessary amendments to other relevant acts to replace specific references to opposite-sex couples with gender-neutral language.

Despite a majority of its MPs having voted against same-sex marriage, it was supposed to introduce amendments to other acts which still referred to married spouses as "man and woman".

With the exception of the Christian Democrats, all opposition parties supported updating the language in other laws to reflect gender-neutral terms.

[69] On 22 October 2015, the Parliament began debating legislation to amend other acts that still had specific references to opposite-sex couples.

Minister of Justice Jari Lindström from the Finns Party, who introduced the bill, said he did so despite his personal opposition.

[78][79][80][81] It was signed by President Niinistö on 13 January 2017, and took effect alongside the amendments to the Marriage Act on 1 March.

[112] In September 2020, the Supreme Administrative Court of Finland ruled that diocesan chapters may sanction priests who perform same-sex marriages.

[111] In March 2024, the Bishops' Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland recommended a compromise provision where marriage would be defined both as between "a man and a woman" and between "two people".

[51] A June 2014 survey showed that among clergy of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 44% supported a gender-neutral marriage law, while 41% were opposed and 15% were neutral.

[123] A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 64% of Finns supported same-sex marriage, 26% were opposed and 10% did not know or had refused to answer.