Swiss voters uphold law granting gay couples greater rights

Published: 2005-06-06

BERN, Switzerland (CNS) -- In a June 5 referendum, voters in Switzerland upheld a law that grants gay couples greater rights, but stops short of allowing them to marry or adopt children. Some 58 percent of Swiss voters supported a registered partnership law that gives same-sex couples similar rights and obligations as married couples in the areas of tax, inheritance, social security and pension laws. The Swiss Catholic Bishops' Conference had urged voters to oppose the law, saying it was a "false solution to a real problem" of discrimination against homosexuals. Bishop Pier Grampa of Lugano told Vatican Radio June 6 that the law risked equating same-sex unions with marriage between a man and a woman. He said the bishops wanted the law to be repealed so as to "not promote the serious mistake of putting the institution of marriage on a par with other types of cohabitation."

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