News Analysis: Will counter initiative repeal Finland's same-sex marriage amendment?

Supporters of marriage equality in Finland rejoiced in November last year after the efforts behind a civil initiative, entitled Tahdon2013, eventually led to the Finnish parliament voting in favor of the legal recognition of same sex marriage.

The bill was signed by Finnish President Sauli Niinisto in February this year and the amendment to the marriage act is likely to come into effect in 2017. The result was also as hailed as an example that a civil initiative led to legislation in Finland.

These developments, however, are now facing unforeseen obstacles.

A counter initiative aiming to repeal the amendment surpassed the threshold of 50,000 signatures last month, which means that the counter initiative will most likely be forwarded to the legal affairs committee and could become the subject of parliamentary debate in 2016.

Seppo Tiitinen, Secretary General of the Finnish Parliament, said in an interview with Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE that it would be highly irregular for the parliament to debate over an issue that has already been voted on and ratified by the previous government.

Therefore there is a distinct possibility that the new initiative might die during the upcoming committee deliberations.

Spearheading the counter initiative is the True Marriage Association, which came into being shortly after the Tahdon campaign's success in 2014.

The association's founding members "see what can be done both in the long run for the promotion of traditional view of marriage and also to the same-sex marriage bill and weather it could be repealed," said the association's PR officer Pasi Turunen.

The association says that children have been overlooked in order to ensure the rights of adults. "Children should have a natural right to be born to a family of his/her own biological mother and father," Turunen told Xinhua.

"Marriage matters because the union of man and woman can produce a child, and children deserve a mother and a father," he added.

The legal justifications for repealing the amendment to the marriage act, Turunen says, draw on the United Nations Convention on The Rights of the Child as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

A voice representing the other side of the debate is that of Panu Maenpaa, chairman of Seta (Short for Seksuaalinen tasavertaisuus, Finnish for Sexual equality), the single largest human rights organization focusing on LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issues in Finland.

Maenpaa refuted the True Marriage Association's usage of the United Nations Convention on The Rights of Children to back up their argument.

"It is meant to ensure the child's right to parents", Maenpaa told Xinhua, "regardless if these are made up of one man and one woman or one man and another man or one woman and another woman."

The former Finnish Non-Discrimination Ombudsman and Member of Parliament Eva Biaudet, argued that nothing in either of the two mentioned instruments explicitly supports Turunen's claims.

"These documents speak of the child's right to protection and the responsibility of adults to see the child's best interests... You cannot determine the interests of a child in beforehand," Biaudet pointed out.

"There are also very few directives provided in terms of regulating family form. I suspect that Turunen may be selectively interpreting these doctrines for the purpose of weaving a political narrative," Biaudet told Xinhua.

Biaudet said it is not feasible to equate marriage to childrearing, or rather, portraying childrearing and parenthood as an intrinsic part of the institution of marriage.

How the situation unfolds remains uncertain. Panu Maenpaa believed it is unlikely that the issue would be reopened in the Finnish parliament, but Turunen was optimistic.

The bill for legalizing same sex marriage in Finland was voted through with 105 in favour and 92 against last November. If everything goes as predicted, Finland will be the last in line of the Scandinavian countries to have legalized same sex marriage. Endit