Iceland Passes Gay Marriage Law in Unanimous Vote

[Hersir]

Iceland, the only country in the world to have an openly gay head of state, passed a law on Friday allowing same-sex partners to get married in a vote which met with no political resistance.

The Althingi parliament voted 49 to zero to change the wording of marriage legislation to include matrimony between "man and man, woman and woman," in addition to unions between men and women.

Iceland, a socially tolerant island nation of about 320,000 people, became the first country to elect an openly gay head of state in 2009 when Social Democrat Johanna Sigurdardottir became prime minister after being nominated by her party.

"The attitude in Iceland is fairly pragmatic," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. "It (gay marriage) has not been a big issue in national politics -- it's not been controversial."

The prime minister's sexual orientation garnered far more interest among foreign media than in Iceland, where the attitude toward homosexuality has grown increasingly relaxed in the past two or three decades, Kristinsson added.

Iceland's protestant church has yet to decide whether to allow same-sex marriages in church, although the law says "ministers will always be free to perform (gay) marriage ceremonies, but never obliged to."

The largely protestant countries of northern Europe, including Sweden, Norway and Denmark, have all endorsed some form of civil union between same-sex couples, but the issue creates more controversy in Mediterranean Catholic nations.

In the United States, gay marriage remains a frought political issue, with laws varying widely from state to state. Vermont was the first state to allow same-sex civil unions in 1999, followed by Massachusetts and Connecticut and others.

Source http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65A3V020100611

[Ediruc]

Homosexuality is such a trivial thing to complain about. In a White homogenous society I think homosexuality would eventually just die out -- after all, it is scientifically proven that homosexuals are genetically predisposition to have a sexual attraction to the same sex. I'm no expert, but I think this "gay gene" will eventually become isolated and die.

ATM I think homosexuality is trivial.

[Hersir]

Homosexuality is such a trivial thing to complain about. In a White homogenous society I think homosexuality would eventually just die out -- after all, it is scientifically proven that homosexuals are genetically predisposition to have a sexual attraction to the same sex. I'm no expert, but I think this "gay gene" will eventually become isolated and die.

ATM I think homosexuality is trivial.

There has always been homosexuality, it was like that in the viking time here in Skandinavia too. That you are gay does not mean you cant have kids.

[Irby]

There has always been homosexuality, it was like that in the viking time here in Skandinavia too. That you are gay does not mean you cant have kids.

I am not quite sure, but I think in Old Norse a queer was ergi, meaning effeminate, and that was the worst thing you could call a man. It was axes out and spliting heads open time if you called someone ergi.

If you call somebody gay in England today, you will get the same reaction!!!

[Sigurd]

I am not quite sure, but I think in Old Norse a queer was ergi, meaning effeminate, and that was the worst thing you could call a man. It was axes out and spliting heads open time if you called someone ergi.

Not every homosexual is automatically effeminate. Some gays refuse to dress and act camp and act fairly normal when in conversation with others. They may even have an aversion to showing affection in public. If they are then in addition typically the male part of their relationships then they might not actually show any signs of effeminate behaviour.

Of course this is not the case with most gays today who are happy to play along with it being a fashion and thus act absolutely camp the moment they have their coming out (we had a school friend, always acting all male, even joining the RAF officer training corps who suddenly became all camp when he came out!), and who are happy to tag along with all those Gay Pride marches.

I wouldn't be surprised though if times where it is less socially accepted, that men with a homosexual disposition simply lived normal married lives and then went secretly away to have a quick intermezzo with their same-sex sexual interest when they were out for a beer.

[Irby]

Not every homosexual is automatically effeminate. Some gays refuse to dress and act camp and act fairly normal when in conversation with others. If they are then in addition typically the male part of their relationships then they might not actually show any signs of effeminate behaviour.

What you said here reminds me of what the Turks and the Arabs and i think the Greeks of the past, are/were like. If, with out being too graphic, you give then you are still a 'real' man, but if you 'take' then you are considered a women! Quite funny really.

All that before breakfast as well

[Sigurd]

All that before breakfast as well

Taking that into account, I assume you won't be having your strawberries with whipped cream or anything of similar oozy consistence then, since it would assume all types of Freudian connotation, correct?

[michael]

Trying not to get to emotional and slip into a state of total contempt, my rock solid view is this:

It's not a natural act. To many people let it slide to be politically correct and not be classed homophobic.

Right is right & wrong is wrong and homosexuality is not in keeping with nature.

No ifs ands or butt's!!

[Hersir]

I am not quite sure, but I think in Old Norse a queer was ergi, meaning effeminate, and that was the worst thing you could call a man. It was axes out and spliting heads open time if you called someone ergi.

If you call somebody gay in England today, you will get the same reaction!!!

That is true, however it was the one taking the passive role who was labelled less of a man. In the book heim, hov og kyrkje (Studies in norse ethics) by Johan Hovstad he dedicates a chapter to homosexuality in viking times.
Also in Lokasenna Odin insults Loke:

Du var åtte vintrar
under jorda,
mjølke-ku og kvende,
der born du har bori,
kjerring-gjerd kaller eg slikt


Thou was eight winters
on the earth below,
milked cow as a woman,
and didst there bear children.
Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."

According to the Gulatingslaw and Frostatingslaw insults like comparing a man to a female animal, the fines had to be paid for in the full. He could also kill the mean as a outlaw (utlæg). If the man is compared to a male animal, like an ox, the punishment is a half of the fine which makes the personal right to the one who was insulted.

In Trymskveda we also find that Tor is scared about losing his reputation when he has to take on womens clothing to retrive Mjølne.

There is also an nidvise from Iceland, the scalds got money to make these to insult the first missionaries that came there, Fredrik and Torvald. Torvald didnt tolerate being called "rage" and he killed two of the skalds involved in the poem making. He was within his rights according to the law.
So it was private juridal consequenses in the viking times here, punishment for homosexuality first came with the stronger state and church power. But according to Laksøla it becomes clear that homosexuality was a valid reason for divorce in heathen times, this is also know from frankish law books.

The strong condemntation from the public about homosexuality and other abormal form for sexuall activity seem to come from a instinctive feeling that it was against the natural order and therefor denounced. One has to look at this in connection with with the strong condemnation in old texts about the blood shame, which was considered a violation of the very laws for existing and therefore came with banishment

(Translated from Johann Hovstad - heim, hov og kyrkje: studiar i norrøn etikk)

[SpearBrave]

Homosexuality is such a trivial thing to complain about. In a White homogenous society I think homosexuality would eventually just die out -- after all, it is scientifically proven that homosexuals are genetically predisposition to have a sexual attraction to the same sex. I'm no expert, but I think this "gay gene" will eventually become isolated and die.

ATM I think homosexuality is trivial.

To play Devils advocate here, If people who are homosexual did not have children and it was genetic than true it would die out. But I don't think most homosexuals are genetically born that that way. I think most but not all of this activity springs from degradation. Some Homosexuals pray on younger males and females to convert them. If this is accepted in society than they will increase their predatory behaviour.

Just because current governments or society is tolerant of said behavior does not mean that it is not against the laws of nature.