After a long battle, gay couples in Switzerland will be able to marry. In fact, the Marriage for All initiative was approved with 64.10% of “yes” against 35.9% of “no”. The stake stood at 51.92%, with a high turnout especially in the cities. The result of the polls was – as expected – quite clear, and the text was approved in all cantons, even historically conservative ones. In Glarus, for example, it was accepted with 61.12% of the votes, and in Nidwalden the “yes” reached 61.57%. In Ticino those in favor were 52.92%, with a stake of 47.95%, in the Grisons 62.75%, with a stake of 47.72%. Marriage for All was particularly successful in Basel-Stadt with a 73.96% approval. The most “shy” canton was instead Appenzell Innerrhoden, with “only” 50.82% of “yes”.
Supporters
The Swiss parliament and the Federal Council supported the “Marriage for All” measure, and polls carried out before the referendum showed solid support from voters. Switzerland authorizes the civil unions between persons of the same sex since 2007. Supporters of the measure say the rule would put same-sex partners on the same legal footing as heterosexual couples, for example by allowing them to adopt children and facilitating citizenship for same-sex spouses. For opponents, replacing civil unions with full marriage rights would undermine families based on the union of man and woman.
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“An important milestone in the history of Swiss rights”. Thus Maria von Känel, co-chairman of the committee for the “yes” to Marriage for all, And she said she was happy, according to the Corriere del Ticino, of the fact that citizens have not been misled by the “false information” of the opponents. In this regard, he stressed that children’s rights will now become greater, thanks to legal certainty since their birth.
Opponents: “Today is a black day for children”
This is supported by national councilor Monika Rüegger of the committee of opponents of Marriage for All, according to which children will now no longer have the right to grow up with a father and a mother. Interviewed by the agency Keystone-Ats, the deputy said that today’s referendum was not about love or feelings, but about the welfare of children, stressing that this united marriage for all absolutely not contested, with the donation of sperm. Rüegger fears that this is only a first step and that soon there will be talk of surrogate mothers or egg donations, which she sees as a kind of “modern prostitution”.
The reactions in Italy
«Good news: the Swiss approved the referendum on marriage to same-sex couples with 64% of the votes in favor. Since Italy is now officially the only country in Western Europe without egalitarian marriages, I would say that we should catch up ”. So on Twitter, Marco Furfaro, of the national leadership of the Democratic Party “.