The Swiss launched a resounding yes in favor of marriage for all in a referendum on Sunday, imposing a crushing defeat on its opponents, who want to see it as a threat to the well-being of the child.
The “yes” received 64.1% of the vote, according to the final result communicated by the federal government and all the cantons of the country, including the most conservative, voted in its favor.
“It’s a historic day”. The formula was on everyone’s lips at the HQ of supporters of the “yes”, in a restaurant in Bern, decked out in rainbow flags and where Mona Gamie, a Drag queen encircled by a shimmering blue scabbard, sang “L ‘”. hymn to love ”by Edith Piaf to mark the occasion.
“Today, it is the reflection of the change of mentality that there has been these last 20 years, it is really the reflection of this very broad and very important acceptance of LGBT people in the society”, is congratulated Olga Baranova, spokesperson for the yes committee, with AFP.
For Deborah Heanni, member of the Libero collective who campaigned for the yes, “it’s a day of celebration, of victory after eight years of campaigning”. And to underline that Switzerland by adopting the homosexual union “puts itself at the same rank as the other countries at the level of this openness and this progression”.
The first marriages between same-sex couples should be able to take place from the 1is July 2022, explained Karin Keller-Sutter, Federal Justice Councilor.
“Whoever loves each other and wants to get married will be able to do so, regardless of whether it is two men, two women, or a man and a woman,” she stressed.
The Canton of Basel-City has the highest rate of yes with 73.96% and conversely it wins only narrowly in that of Appenzell Innerrhoden (50.82%)
The Netherlands led the way in 2001 in Western Europe. In France, marriage for all has been legal since 2013, in Germany since 2017.
If the yes victory is not a surprise, its magnitude is, when the opponents had led an offensive end of the campaign with shock election posters and seemed to rise in the polls.
Kill the father
The posters deplored the commodification of the child and asserted that “marriage for all kills the father”.
On one of them, you can see a crying baby, with an ear tag usually reserved for cattle, and this question: “Babies to order?” “.
On another, a huge zombie head, supposed to represent a deceased father, stares at passers-by. A primary school in Valais had even decided to cover it up, because it frightened children.
Homosexual couples can already enter into a civil pact in Switzerland since 2007, but the new text confers new rights and it provides in particular that same-sex couples can adopt a child jointly.
In addition, female couples will be able to use sperm donation. It was one of the most controversial points and put forward by opponents.
Anonymous sperm donation remains prohibited for all couples in Switzerland, as does ovum donation and surrogacy.
For Monika Rüegger, federal deputy of the populist party UDC – first party of Switzerland – this Sunday is a “black day” for the well-being of the children.
Asked by the ATS-Keystone agency, Ms. Rüegger said she feared surrogacy or egg donation would then be required.
Benjamin Roduit, federal deputy for the Center Party, stressed on the public channel RTS that for him marriage for all between consenting adults is not a problem, but he said he feared, on the other hand, that this would open the doors access to sperm donation for lesbian couples.
According to estimates by the gfs.bern institute, voters largely rejected a second proposal submitted to them (64.9% no), launched by young people from the Socialist Party, which has the slogan “Money does not do not work, you do! “.
Nicknamed the “Robin Hood” initiative, it called for income from capital – interest, dividends for example – to be taxed 1.5 times more than income from work.
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