Finland's Parliament has defeated a measure that would have legalized ‘gender-neutral marriage' making it possible for same-sex couples to wed in the Scandinavian nation, YLE reports:
After a lengthy campaign, the latest bid to legislate for same-sex marriage has foundered once again at the Finnish Parliaments's Legal Affairs committee. The committee, which also rejected a previous bill on the issue, voted 10-6 to push the law back to the whole legislature. Three of the four National Coalition Party MPs on the committee voted against the bill.
The bill will now be considered by a full sitting of parliament in the autumn.
Finland's Parliament previously considered a marriage equality bill in 2013 but ultimately rejected it in March of that year. The current measure, a citizen's initiative, was formed in response to that defeat. The initiative gathered more than 166,00 signatures (as of 2012, Finland had a population of approximately 5.4 million according to The World Bank).
Finland remains the only Nordic country where same-sex marriage is not legal.
