Street Parties as Swiss Back Marriage Rights

Swiss reactionaries, including conservative parties, the far right and religious extremists, ended up with egg on their faces at the weekend, as the small Apline country voted overwhelmingly to support samesex marriage reforms in a nationwide referendum. Well over sixty per cent of the population in all the country's regions voted in favour of allowing gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. Civil partnerships were already in place in the country. Pink News notes that the result also means that same-sex couples will be allowed to adopt children for the first time, while queer women will finally gain access to sperm donation services. Voting was held because in Switzerland many public issues are put to a referendum if enough signatures are raised. Conservative groups raised this threshold after the Swiss Parliament proposed the reforms. But the overwhelming rejection of bigotry by the Swiss public saw street celebrations involving thousands of LGBTQIA people. Maria von Kanel for the Swiss Rainbow Families Association described the result as “overwhelming” and a “landslide”.