A draft law to legalize gay marriage in Finland has been defeated by a vote of 9-8 by the legal committee of parliament, reports Uusi Suomi, citing Tweets by Green Party MP Jani Toivola and Aino-Kaisa Pekonen of the Left Alliance.
Green MP Jani Toivola tweeted that he was “disappointed” by the gay marriage vote today.
The members of the legal committee who voted against the draft bill were: Anne Holmlund, Markku Mäntymaa and Kari Tolvanen of the National Coaltion Party; James Hirvisaari, Arja Juvonen and Kaj Turunen of the
Perussuomalaiset party; Arto Pirttilahti and Ari Torniainen of the
Center Party; and Peter Östman of the Christian Democrats.
Those voted in favor of the bill were Suna Kylmäläinen, Antti Lindtman, Kristiina Jalonen-Salolainen, Johanna Ojala-Niemelä of the Social Democratic Party; Stefan Wallin of the Swedish People’s Party, Jaana Pelkonen of the National Coalition Party, Pekonen of the Left Alliance, and Toivola of the Greens.
The vote should be seen as a hard blow for tolerance in Finland. It’s clear that this government has mixed opinions about minority rights, It’s wisful thinking to expext that the adverse climate against immigrants will improve anytime soon in Finland.
“We lost in the vote,” he said. “It’s sad, it makes me cry, the world isn’t ready yet.”
Wrote Migrant Tales on February 19: MP Anne Holmlund of the National Coalition Party and former interior minister appears to be against gay rights as well. She has reportedly sabotaged a petition as chairman of the legal committee to debate and legalize gay marriage.