by Rex Wockner
International News
Several hundred people marched through central Oslo April 12 in opposition to the Norwegian government's plan to legalize same-sex marriage.
Norway has had a registered-partnership law that gives gay couples the same rights as marriage since 1993.
A report in the Aftenposten newspaper said many of the protesters were Christians and Muslims.
The government's minister of children and equality, Anniken Huitfeldt, has said letting gay couples marry "won't weaken marriage as an institution; rather, it will strengthen it."
"Marriage won't be worth less because more can take part in it," she told Aftenposten.
The law would permit same-sex couples to marry in churches, adopt children and receive state-funded medical assistance in getting pregnant. It is expected to pass Parliament before summer.
Full marriage is open to same-sex couples in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain and Massachusetts. Numerous nations have civil-union or registered-partnership laws that grant same-sex couples some, most or all rights and obligations of marriage.
