LGBT rights in Norway
LGBT rights in Norway  |
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![Location of LGBT rights in Norway (dark green)in Europe (dark grey) – [Legend]](/info/File:Europe-Norway.svg)
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| Same-sex sexual activity legal? | Legal since 1972 |
| Gender identity/expression | Transsexual persons allowed to change legal gender (sterilization required)[1] |
| Military service | Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly |
| Discrimination protections | Sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, intersex status protections (see below) |
| Family rights | |
| Recognition of relationships |
Registered partnerships from 1993–2009* Same-sex marriage since 2009 *Existing partnerships remain valid, but no new partnerships accepted |
| Adoption | Married and committed same-sex couples allowed to adopt |
Norway, like most of Scandinavia, is very liberal in regard to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights and it also became the first country in the world to enact an anti-discrimination law protecting homosexuals in certain areas. Same-sex marriage, adoption, and IVF/assisted insemination treatments for lesbian couples have been legal since 2009. Rights for trans people, however, have received less attention and protection.[1]
Contents
Law regarding same-sex sexual activity
Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 1972.[2] At the same time of legalization, the age of consent became equal regardless of gender and/or sexual orientation, at 16.[3]
Recognition of same-sex relationships
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Gender-neutral marriage has been legally provided since 1 January 2009 in Norway.[4]
A bill was proposed on 18 November 2004 by two MPs from the Socialist Left Party to abolish the existing civil union laws, and make marriage laws gender neutral. The move was withdrawn and replaced by a request that the cabinet further investigate the issue. The conservative cabinet of that time did not look into the issue. However, the second cabinet Stoltenberg announced a common, unified marriage act as part of its foundation document, the Soria Moria statement. A public hearing was opened on 16 May 2007.
On 29 May 2008, the Associated Press reported that two Norwegian opposition parties came out in favour of the new bill, assuring its passage when at 11 June vote. Prior to this, there were some disagreements with members of the current three-party governing coalition on whether the bill had enough votes to pass.
The first parliamentary hearing, including the vote, was held on 11 June 2008 approving by 84 votes to 41 a bill that will allow same-sex couples to marry. This came after the Norwegian government proposed a marriage law in 14 March 2008, that would give lesbian and gay couples the same rights as heterosexuals, including church weddings, adoption and assisted pregnancies. The new legislation amended the definition of civil marriage to make it gender neutral. Norway's upper legislative chamber (Lagtinget) passed a new equality law with 23–17 vote in favor of the gender neutral marriage. The King of Norway granted royal assent thereafter. The law took effect on 1 January 2009.
Prior to the gender neutral marriage law, a civil partnership law had been in effect since 1993. Partnerskapsloven, as it was known in Norwegian, granted many marriage rights to same-sex couples, only without calling it marriage. In 1991 unregistered same-sex cohabitation was recognized by the government for the granting of limited rights, such as being considered as next of kin for medical decisions, and in the event of wrongful death of one partner the other partner was entitled to compensation.[5]
Adoption and family planning
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Married and committed same-sex couples are permitted to adopt under Norwegian law. Stepchild adoption is also allowed for all married and committed couples. For lesbians artificial insemination is available.
Additionally—pursuant to the law which legalized same-sex marriage—when a woman who is married to or in a stable co-habiting relationship with another woman becomes pregnant through artificial insemination, the other partner will have all the rights and duties of parenthood "from the moment of conception".
Military status
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LGBT people can serve openly in the Armed Forces. They have had full rights and anti-discrimination protections since 1979.[6]
Discrimination protections and hate crime laws
In 1981, Norway became the first country in the world to enact a law to prevent discrimination against LGBT people by amending Paragraph 349a of its Penal Code, prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provision of goods or services and in access to public gatherings. In the same year, Paragraph 135a of the Penal Code was amended to prohibit hate speech directed at LGBT people.[7] The country has banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment since 1998. Norway also has a law explicitly prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity and expression, by a report from ILGA-Europe. Norway is one of 5 countries besides Australia, South Africa, Malta, and Germany to protect intersex people and explicitly states it in the anti-discrimination law, by the same report from ILGA-Europe.
Condition of LGBT rights
Norway is generally gay-friendly.[8] The most open and including community can be found in the capital, Oslo, where many gay-friendly events and venues are located.[9]
In 2015 media said that there is a move to have a taxi station moved from near the entrance to Oslo's oldest so-called gay pub; Muslims claimed that pictures have been taken by taxi drivers parked at the station—of Muslims entering the pub; some of these pictures have later been distributed widely within Muslim communities.[10]
Summary table
| Same-sex sexual activity legal |  (Since 1972) |
| Equal age of consent | (Since 1972) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in employment | (Since 1998) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services | (Since 1981) |
| Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) | (Since 1981) |
| Same-sex marriages | (Since 2009) |
| Recognition of same-sex couples | (Since 1993) |
| Step-child adoption by same-sex couples | (Since 2009) |
| Joint adoption by same-sex couples | (Since 2009) |
| Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military | (Since 1979) |
| Right to change legal sex | (Since 2000) |
| Access to IVF for lesbians | (Since 2009) |
| Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples |  (Banned for opposite-sex couples as well) |
| MSMs allowed to donate blood | |
See also
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to LGBT in Norway. |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 2012, Bedre rettigheter for Transpersoner - Rød Ungdom, retrieved 23-05-2015
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ (Norwegian) Almindelig borgerlig Straffelov (Straffeloven)
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- ↑ Gay Guide: Norway gaytimes.co.uk. July 14, 2012.
- ↑ Gay Oslo visitoslo.com. July 14, 2012.
- ↑ Vil ha slutt på snikfotografering av homofile
