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Sexualities
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Legalizing Love in a Cold Climate: The History, Consequences and Recent Developments of Registered Partnership in Scandinavia

Jens Rydström

Lund University, Sweden, jens.rydstrom{at}genus.lu.se

Why was Scandinavia the first place in the world to introduce national laws allowing registered partnership between same-sex couples? This article is a survey and historical documentation of the registered partnership laws throughout Scandinavia, documenting their origin in Denmark in 1989 and their subsequent adoption by every Nordic country. The origins of the laws are traced to the 1970s criticism of the nuclear family, the AIDS epidemic, a general cultural emphasis of consensus, and the structure of the welfare state. The article investigates what the new homosexual family unit is permitted to be, and asks whether the new laws have proven to be liberatory, or a means of subtle repression and control.

Key Words: gay marriage • queer studies • registered partnership • Scandinavia • welfare state

Sexualities, Vol. 11, No. 1-2, 193-226 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/1363460707085470
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