Ahead of a vote aimed at stopping a legal amendments to allow gay marriage in Switzerland, a survey suggests a majority of Swiss voters favour the changes.
According to a survey by Tamedia, 64% of the population said they plan to vote in favour of accepting the government’s amendment to Switzerland’s civil code allowing same-sex marriage, reported Le Matin. 35% said they planned to vote against the amendment, with only 1% undecided.
Support for gay marriage was highest in French-speaking Switzerland (66%), followed by the German- (64%) and Italian-speaking (58%) regions. It was also higher in the cities (69%) than in the countryside (61%). In addition, young people were more favourable to the change than older ones.
Currently, two men or two women cannot marry in Switzerland. Instead they can only enter into a legal partnership. To remove the anomaly the government agreed in 2020 to amend the civil code to allow same-sex marriage.
However, a committee spearheaded by the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) and the Federal Democratic Union (UDF/EDU) launched a vote against the government’s proposed amendment.
Couples in legal partnerships have many of the same rights as married couples. They can for example adopt the children of their partner. However, they cannot both adopt a child together from a third party and female couples can cannot access donated sperm. The amendment will change this.
Vote organisers argue that giving lesbian couples access to sperm will create fatherless children with identity problems.
The vote is set for 26 September 2021.
More on this:
Le Matin article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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