Estonia Rejects Gay Marriage
From the desk of Martin Helme on Wed, 2006-01-11 15:14
There is no danger that Christian civil servants in Estonia will soon be forced to register gay marriages. While one West European country after another is legalizing same-sex marriages, last Monday the Riigikogu, the Estonian Parliament, rejected a proposal to include same-sex marriage in the new marriage law. Väino Linde, the chairman of the judiciary committee of the Riigikogu and a member of the governing Center Party, said there is no need to legalize the partnership of homosexuals because Estonian laws allow gays to regulate their relationships in other ways.
Mr Linde also stressed that legislators should respect the views of the people. A large majority of Estonians oppose same-sex marriage. Close to 60% of the people do not approve of gay marriage and about 70% opposes allowing adoption by same-sex couples. A survey taken by the Estonian free-market website Syndicate of Common Sense found that 81% of its readers objected to gay marriage.
Last week gay lobbies had called on the Riigikogu, the government and the ombudsman to legalize same-sex marriages. A proposed amendment in the new family law, however, explicitly defines marriage as a union “between one man and one woman.” The new law also declares void same-sex marriages registered outside Estonia, in countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain where gays are allowed to marry.
Estonian gay activists first came out in public in August 2004, when they organized a “pride parade” in the capital Tallinn. There were about 1,000 participants in the parade but many of them were foreigners who had flown in to show their solidarity. There was a second parade in 2005. Year by year the activists grow more vocal. As in the West, the Estonian mainstream media are rather sympathetic towards the gay cause. The so-called cultural elite has been busy trying to prove that they are open-minded, tolerant and progressive by participating in gay events. Conservative intellectuals in Estonia, however, see the acceptance of same-sex marriages as an indication of cultural suicide. They are glad that Estonia is showing less eagerness to commit cultural suicide than Western Europe. The “New Europe” is more in line with culturally conservative “red” America than the “Old Europe,” whose cultural values are the envy of the “blue” Americans.
Love is Love
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 2006-01-20 06:06.
Love is love no matter what form it may come in. I wonder how many of those 60% actually know a gay couple or for that matter, knows what it is like to walk a mile in their shoes. For one thing the leading scientific organizations have empirically studied their relationships for a very long time and find them as harmless as straight relationships. Sources can be found here:
http://RainbowOfEquality.f2b.be
Something capable of a consenting, responsible and caring relationship will not harm anybody. One thing that is bad is closemindedness and when we do that we miss out on all the beautiful things in life.
"The “New Europe” is
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2006-01-16 20:40.
"The “New Europe” is more in line with culturally conservative “red” America than the “Old Europe,” whose cultural values are the envy of the “blue” Americans."
The ignorance with regard to the former communist East among the so-called "New Right" in the rest of Europe is sometimes breathtaking. Their uncritical embrace of the Baltic states as if we can still find true freedom-loving, unspoilt real conservative people there, resembles the uncritical acceptance of the left of the various 'cultures' of this planet.
The Baltic states are among the poorest, most corrupt, crime-ridden, and dishonest nations of the EU. The way these nations write off their Nazi past as if it never happened does not seem to bother those on the "New Right", whereas the so-called cowardice of France in the face of the Nazi onslaught is endlessly used to bash that country. The Balts did not just have a collaborationist Vichy; they had a full-scale, volunteer killing machine, complete with SS divisions, concentration camps and Einsatzgruppen.
As to the present day situation in the Baltics: forget your fantasies of straight-laced conservative values holding sway. Riga and Tallinn are riddled with brothels to 'service' the hordes of drunken (often British) travellers on budget-holidays.
A large chunk of one of the most disgusting crimes a human can commit is processed through all three countries: the trade in girls, bought and sold for the sex-trade.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Lithuania is the owner of the largest and most expensive hotel in Vilnius, which somehow ended up in his hands despite his "modest salary".
When a truly popular politician such as Paskas enters the scene to try and do something about the utter and abject poverty of the Lithuanians, he is manouvred out by hook and by crook, to please the local political mafia and the EU and US who want a pliable stooge in his place.
The glorious "New Europe" - don't make me laugh. It makes me cry.
What right would even 99% of
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sun, 2006-01-15 10:39.
What right would even 99% of the population have to deny 2 people who love eachother to marry? A marriage is something between 2 (or 3 or whatever) people and the rest of the world has no right to say anything about that.
No rules?
Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Sun, 2006-01-15 14:30.
Anonymous:
The right of the majority.
In your world society would have no rules?
Should a pedophile be allowed to 'love'?
New Europe
Submitted by truth serum (not verified) on Thu, 2006-01-12 18:00.
New Europe will survive unlike Old Europe which is in fact throwing everything of real value away...family, religion, morality, etc..
In a country where 'everything goes' they should not be surprised when they look up from their stupor and realize that 'it went.'