Issue Watch
Track global public opinion on current issues.
- 2008: Race for the White House
- Abortion
- Africa
- Angela Merkel
- Death Penalty
- Economy and Globalization
- Environment
- European Union
- George W. Bush
- Global Warming
- Gordon Brown
- Hamas
- Immigration
- Iran
- Iraq War
- Italy Election 2008
- Kevin Rudd
- Latin America
- Nicolas Sarkozy
- North Korea
- Oil and Gas
- Same-Sex Marriage
- Stem Cell Research
- Stephen Harper
- Terrorism
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Democrats
- U.S. Election 2008 - The Republicans
- U.S. Election 2008: The Primaries
- Vladimir Putin
- Yasuo Fukuda
Angus Reid Global Monitor : Polls & Research
Swedes Support Same-Sex Marriage
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Over two-thirds of people in Sweden are in favour of allowing homosexual partners to enter wedlock, according to a poll by Sifo published in Svenska Dagbladet. 71 per cent of respondents agree with allowing homosexual couples to get married, while 24 per cent disagree.
Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada and South Africa, and at least 18 countries offer some form of legal recognition to same sex unions.
Since 1995, Sweden has allowed same-sex partners to form civil unions, granting them the same legal status of married couples. However, a 1987 law defines marriage in the Scandinavian country as "being between a man and a woman." Several advocacy groups have pushed for the distinction between heterosexual marriages and homosexual unions to be eliminated.
Swedish voters renewed the Diet in September 2006. The centre-right alliance—including the Moderate Rally Party (M), the People’s Party Liberals (FpL), the Centre Party (C), and the Christian-Democrats (KD)—secured 178 seats, ending the ten-year tenure of Social-Democrat prime minister Goran Persson. Moderate leader Fredrik Reinfeldt became prime minister in October 2006.
Out of seven parties currently represented in the Diet, all but the Christian-Democrats support same-sex marriage. On Jan. 15, Carina Moberg—a member of the opposition Workers’ Party - Social-Democrats (S) and the chairwoman of the Swedish Parliamentary Committee on Civil Affairs—stated that a multi-party effort will push the current administration to legalize gay marriage, adding, "We want to put more pressure on the government. They have had ten months."
Polling Data
Do you agree or disagree with allowing homosexual couples to get married?
|
Agree |
71% |
|
Disagree |
24% |
|
Not sure |
5% |
Source: Sifo / Svenska Dagbladet
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 Swede adults, conducted from Jan. 14 to Jan. 17, 2008. No margin of error was provided.