by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
The Icelandic parliament, Alingi, legalized same-sex marriage June 11. The vote was 49-0. Fourteen MPs skipped the vote.
Same-sex couples will be able to marry starting June 27. The registered-partnership apparatus that gay couples used in the past will no longer be available.
The national LGBT association, Samtoekin 78, said Iceland had removed the last obstacle to equal rights for all.
Icelandic Prime Minister Johanna Sigurardottir is openly lesbian.
Iceland is the ninth nation where same-sex couples can marry nationwide and the 11th nation where same-sex marriage is possible. Gay marriage also is legal in Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Mexico City, Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, D.C.
