Same-sex marriage in Denmark has been legal since 15 June 2012. A bill for the legalization of

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same Legal sex and gender, sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being ...

s was introduced by the

Thorning-Schmidt I Cabinet The cabinet of Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt was the cabinet government of Denmark from 3 October 2011 to 3 February 2014. It was a coalition between the Social Democrats, the Danish Social Liberal Party and the Socialist People's Party ...

, and approved by the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

on 7 June 2012. It received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...

by Queen

Margrethe II Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

on 12 June and took effect three days later.

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

was the eleventh country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first country in the world to enact

registered partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s, 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 The Danish Realm ( da, Danmarks Rige; fo, Danmarkar Ríki; kl, Danmarkip Naalagaaffik), officially the Kingdom of Denmark (; ; ), is a sovereign state located in Northern Europe and Northern North America. It consists of metropolitan Denma ...

: * In

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

, legislation to allow same-sex marriage passed the

Inatsisartut The Inatsisartut ( kl, Inatsisartut; '' da, Landstinget, lit=''the land's- thing'' of Greenland''), also known as the Parliament of Greenland in English, is the unicameral parliament (legislative branch) of Greenland, an autonomous territory* ...

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 The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, same-sex marriage legislation passed the

Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; da, Lagtinget) is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm. The name literally means "''Law Thing''"—that is, a law assembly—and derives from Old Norse ''l ...

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 partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...

s ( da, registreret partnerskab) 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 Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

. 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 Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

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 Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

were treated as Danish citizens for the purpose of the residency requirement. Additionally, the

Justice Ministry A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

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 The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

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

. 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 Darren Spedale is an entrepreneur and author. He founded StartOut, an organization supporting LGBT entrepreneurs. He also founded Family by Design, a website supporting parenting partnerships. He attended Duke University. He is co-author wit ...

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 Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

MPs introduced a resolution asking the

Cabinet of Denmark The Cabinet of Denmark ( da, regering) has been the chief executive body and the government of the Kingdom of Denmark since 1848. The Cabinet is led by the Prime Minister. There are around 25 members of the Cabinet, known as "ministers", all o ...

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 Carina Christensen (born 8 November 1972, in Fredericia) is a Danish politician representing the Conservative People's Party. She was the Minister of Family and Consumer Affairs in the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen II from 15 December 200 ...

, 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 Lone Dybkjær (23 May 1940 – 20 July 2020) was a Denmark, Danish politician. She served three non-consecutive terms as a member of the Folketing. Between 1988 to 1990, she was Minister for the Environment (Denmark), Minister for the Environ ...

, called for the legalization of same-sex marriage. The Copenhagen Mayor for Culture and Recreation, Pia Allerslev, from the liberal then-governing Venstre party, also publicly supported same-sex marriage, as did the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen,

Ritt Bjerregaard Ritt Bjerregaard (full name Jytte Ritt Bjerregaard; 19 May 1941 – 21 January 2023) was a Danish politician who was a member of the Danish Social Democrats, and was Lord Mayor of Copenhagen from 1 January 2006 to 2010. Bjerregaard was Educati ...

. 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. In October 2011,

Manu Sareen Manu Sareen (born 16 May 1968 in India) is the former Minister for Equality and former Church and Nordic Cooperation, in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt and former and member of the Copenhagen City Council, elected for the Danish Social L ...

, the

Minister for Equality The minister for women and equalities is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom which leads the Government Equalities Office. This is an independent department within the wider Cabinet Office that has responsibility for addressing all form ...

and Church Affairs, announced that the

was seeking to legalize same-sex marriage by spring 2012. On 18 January 2012, the government published two draft bills. One of the bills would introduce a gender-neutral definition of marriage and allow same-sex couples to marry either in civil registry offices or in the

. In addition, registered partners would be able to convert their union into a marriage. The other bill would allow individual priests to refuse to conduct same-sex marriages. Other religious communities would also be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages but would not be compelled to do so. The bills were under consultation until 22 February 2012. On 14 March 2012, the cabinet submitted both bills to the

. The bills were approved on 7 June 2012 and received

by Queen

on 12 June. The new laws took effect on 15 June 2012. The legislation was opposed by the

Danish People's Party The Danish People's Party ( da, Dansk Folkeparti, DPP/DF) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Denmark. It was formed in 1995 by former members of the Progress Party (FrP). The DPP lent its support to the Venstre– C ...

and the

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

, a religious conservative party, although the latter were not represented in the Danish Parliament at that time. Under the law, ministers can refuse to carry out a same-sex marriage ceremony, but the local bishop must arrange a replacement for their church building. Article 1 of the ''Marriage Act'' ( da, Ægteskabsloven) was amended to read as follows: :''Loven finder anvendelse på ægteskab mellem to personer af forskelligt køn og mellem to personer af samme køn.'' :()'' In

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

, same-sex marriage is known as ''ægteskab mellem personer af samme køn'' or more commonly as ''homovielse'' () or ''kønsneutrale ægteskab'' (, meaning "gender-neutral marriage"). The first same-sex marriage in Denmark occurred on 15 June at the

Frederiksberg Church Frederiksberg Church ( Danish: Frederiksberg Kirke) is the oldest church building in the Frederiksberg district of Copenhagen, Denmark. Completed in 1734, it is built to an unusual octagonal design in Baroque style. It is situated at Frederiksber ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

between Stig Elling and Steen Andersen, a couple for 27 years who had entered a registered partnership in 1990.

Greenland

Denmark's registered partnership law was extended to

on 26 April 1996. Denmark's marriage law, as supported by the

Naalakkersuisut Naalakkersuisut ( en, Cabinet of Greenland, da, Grønlands Regering), is the chief executive body and the government of Greenland since the island became self-governing in 1979. An "autonomous territory" ( da, land) of the Kingdom of Denmark, tak ...

, was to be considered by the

in the spring of 2014, but was postponed beyond the year due to early

parliamentary elections A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

. The legislation to grant same-sex couples marriage and adoption rights had its first reading on 25 March 2015. It was approved unanimously on second reading on 26 May 2015. Ratification of the legislation was required by the Danish Parliament, which granted approval of the law on 19 January 2016. The law came into effect on 1 April 2016. Greenland's registered partnership law was repealed on the same day that the same-sex marriage law came into effect.

Faroe Islands

Denmark's registered partnership law was never extended to the

, and until 2017 it was the only

Nordic region The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; lit. 'the North') are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic. It includes the sovereign states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Swed ...

to not recognize same-sex unions. A set of bills to extend the Danish gender-neutral marriage law to the Faroe Islands was submitted to the

on 20 November 2013, though was rejected at second reading on 13 March 2014. Following the Faroese general election in September 2015, two same-sex marriage bills (one permitting same-sex marriage and the other permitting same-sex divorce) were submitted to the Parliament. The bills received a first reading on 24 November 2015. On 26 April 2016, following a significant amount of parliamentary maneuvering, the same-sex marriage bill passed its second reading by a vote of 19–14. The bill passed its final reading on 29 April 2016. The Danish Parliament voted unanimously to ratify the changes to its own marriage law on 25 April 2017. The Minister of Justice,

Søren Pape Poulsen Søren Pape Poulsen (born 31 December 1971) is a Danish politician, who is a member of the Folketing for the Danish Conservative Party. He has been the leader of the party since 2014. From 2016 to 2019 he served as Justice Minister of Denmark, an ...

, subsequently allowed the law to go into effect on 1 July 2017, after some minor adjustments regarding the state church had been made. Legislation exempting the

Church of the Faroe Islands The Church of the Faroe Islands ( fo, Fólkakirkjan , lit= people's church; da, Færøernes folkekirke) is one of the smallest state churches in the world. Prior to becoming independent on 29 July 2007, it was a diocese of the Church of Denmar ...

from performing same-sex marriages passed the Faroese Parliament on 30 May and went into effect on 1 July 2017, alongside the marriage law. The first same-sex wedding in the Faroe Islands was performed on 6 September 2017.

Impact

A study by the Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention, released in 2019, showed that the legalisation of same-sex marriage, as well as other supportive policies and legislation, had decreased the

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

rate among same-sex partners. The study, conducted in both Sweden and Denmark, found a 46% fall in suicides of people in same-sex unions between the periods 1989–2002 and 2003–2016, compared to 28% among heterosexual couples.

Statistics

Same-sex marriage statistics in Denmark (excluding Greenland and the Faroe Islands) are shown in the table below. In 2021, the majority of same-sex marriages (79%) were performed in a civil ceremony, while 21% took place in a religious ceremony in the

. 1 marriage was performed in

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

s outside of Denmark.

Public opinion

YouGov YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...

poll conducted between 27 December 2012 and 6 January 2013 found that 79% of

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

supported same-sex marriage and 16% were opposed. The remaining 6% had no opinion on the issue. The same poll also showed that 59% supported same-sex couples' right to adopt, 31% were opposed and 11% had no opinion. A May 2013 Gallup survey from the Faroe Islands found that 68% favoured civil marriage for same-sex couples, with 27% against and 5% undecided. All the

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

showed majority support and no age groups had more opponents than supporters. A 2014 poll from the Faroe Islands showed that 62% of respondents supported same-sex marriage. The regional divide was significant; support was greater on Streymoy (71% in Norðurstreymoy and 76% in Suðurstreymoy), which includes the capital

Tórshavn Tórshavn (; lit. "Thor's harbour"), usually locally referred to as simply ''Havn'', is the capital and largest city of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the northwest of the city lies the ...

, than in

Norðoyar The six islands in the northeast of the Faroe Islands are together referred to as Norðoyar, i.e. the Northern Isles ( da, Norderøerne). These Islands from west to east are Kalsoy, Kunoy, Borðoy, Viðoy, Svínoy and Fugloy. Klaksvík Klak ...

(42%) and

Eysturoy Eysturoy (pronounced estroimeaning 'East Island') is a region and the second-largest of the Faroe Islands, both in size and population. Description Eysturoy is separated by a narrow sound from the main island of Streymoy. Eysturoy is extremely ...

(48%). An August 2014 Faroese poll asking 600 respondents for their views on civil marriage for same-sex couples showed that 61% supported the idea, while 32% were opposed and 7% had no opinion. The 2015

Eurobarometer Eurobarometer is a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission and other EU Institutions since 1973. These surveys address a wide variety of topical issues relating to the European Union throughout i ...

found that 87% of Danes supported same-sex marriage, while 9% were opposed and 4% were undecided. A

Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...

poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 86% of Danes supported same-sex marriage, 9% were opposed and 5% did not know or refused to answer. When divided by religion, 92% of religiously unaffiliated people, 87% of non-practicing Christians and 74% of church-attending Christians supported same-sex marriage. Among 18–34-year-olds, opposition to same-sex marriage was 6%. The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 89% of Danes thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 8% were opposed.

References

{{Status of same-sex unions 2012 in LGBT history