Parliament, Oslo, Norway, Thursday 1st of April 1993.
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The Second Chamber (Lagtinget) in the Norwegian Parliament has just 
voted FOR the Law on Registered Partnerships.  This means that the 
law has legally been accepted by Parliament.
The vote at 20:06 CET today in Lagtinget was

		18 FOR and 16 AGAINST.

(The vote in the First Chamber (Odelstinget) on Monday was 58 FOR 
and 40 AGAINST.)

At the party being held at Homohuset (Gay & Lesbian House in Oslo)
this evening the Minister for Children and Family Affairs, Grete Berget,
repeated that the Government will do it's best to have the law put 
into force on August 1st this year.  After that a few couples vowed 
to get married on the 1st of August.

Norway will now become the second country in the world with a
partnershiplaw for gays and lesbians, Denmark was the first.
The Norwegian law gives lesbian and gay registered partners the same
legal rights and obligations as heterosexual married couples, with
the exception of the right to adopt children and the right to a church
wedding.


Finally ... LarsM
-- 
Lars Markhus -- larsm@ifi.uio.no (Student)
Institute of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway