Same-sex marriage has been legal in Denmark since 15 June 2012. A bill for the legalization of same-sex marriages was introduced by the Thorning-Schmidt I Cabinet, and approved by the Folketing on 7 June 2012. It received royal assent by Queen Margrethe II on 12 June and took effect three days later. Denmark was the eleventh country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first country in the world to enact registered partnerships, which provided same-sex couples with almost all of the rights and benefits of marriage, in 1989.
Same-sex marriage is also legal in the two other constituent countries of the Danish Realm: In Greenland, legislation to allow same-sex marriage passed the Inatsisartut on 26 May 2015. The Danish Parliament ratified the legislation on 19 January 2016 and the law took effect on 1 April 2016. In the Faroe Islands, same-sex marriage legislation passed the Løgting on 29 April 2016. The legislation was ratified by the Danish Parliament on 25 April 2017 and received royal assent on 3 May. The law took effect on 1 July 2017.
History
Denmark proper
Registered partnerships
Registered partnerships () were established in Denmark by a law passed on 7 June 1989, and which came into force on 1 October 1989. It was the first such law in the world. Three attempts to expand the law in May 2003, another in June 2003, and another in June 2006 failed in Parliament. The law was successfully expanded regarding adoption rights and the care of children in June 2009, and in May 2010.
Registered partnerships had almost all the same qualities as marriage. All legal and fiscal rights and obligations were identical to those of opposite-sex marriages, with the following two exceptions:
laws making explicit reference to the sexes of a married couple did not apply to registered partnerships regulations by international treaties did not apply unless all signatories agreed
Divorce for registered partners followed the same rules as opposite-sex divorces. Registered partners had to meet one of the following residency requirements to form a union: (1) one partner had to be a Danish citizen and be resident in Denmark, or (2) both parties must have been resident in Denmark for at least two years. Citizens of Finland, Iceland and Norway were treated as Danish citizens for the purpose of the residency requirement. Additionally, the Justice Ministry could order that a citizen of any other country with a registered partnership law similar to Denmark's be treated as a Danish citizen. Registered partnerships were conducted by civil ceremony only, but the Church of Denmark allowed priests to perform blessings of same-sex relationships.
On 17 March 2009, legislation granting registered partners the right to adopt children jointly was introduced to the Folketing. The bill was approved on 4 May 2010 and took effect on 1 July 2010. On 15 June 2012, the partnership law was repealed and replaced by a gender-neutral marriage law. Entering into new registered partnerships is no longer possible, though existing ones remain valid.
Denmark's role in being the first country in the world to provide almost all of the benefits of marriage to same-sex couples caught international attention. A two-year study of the registered partnership law by researcher Darren Spedale found that same-sex couples were more likely to register their union and less likely to divorce than opposite-sex married couples in Denmark. In particular, same-sex registered partners with children had very low rates of divorce as compared to opposite-sex couples.
Same-sex marriage
In 2006, five Social Liberal MPs introduced a resolution asking the Cabinet of Denmark to draft a gender-neutral marriage law. The resolution was debated in Parliament and opposed by members of the conservative governing coalition. The Minister for the Family, Carina Christensen, argued that registered partners already had the same rights as married partners except for the ability to marry in church, and thus that gender-neutral marriage was unnecessary. In January 2008, the Social Liberal Party's Equality Rapporteur, Lone Dybkjær, called for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The Copenhagen Mayor for Culture and Recreation, Pia Allerslev, from the liberal then-governing party, also publicly supported same-sex marriage, as did the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, Ritt Bjerregaard.
In June 2010, the Parliament once again debated a same-sex marriage bill proposed by the opposition parties. It was rejected on a 52–57 vote. A motion calling for legalization was also voted down.