Same sex marriage legal from today

same-sex-marriage

Same sex marriage is legal from today. Voters gave the go ahead to the new law in September – by a clear margin of 64%.

Although Switzerland has had civil partnerships for same sex couples for over 15 years – commentators say marriage means equality. This country is the last in Western Europe to allow same sex marriage. 

It will mean automatic parental recognition and make naturalization easier for non-Swiss partners. 

The process of changing names will also be easier – although not compulsory and some differences in social security which was between civil partnerships and marriage will be levelled, especially in the case of a death of a partner. 

No new civil partnerships can now be formed after today. 

More from Bitesize News