Will Finland Legalize Gay Marriage?

Government officials from Finland are considering a citizen's initiative to pass laws that would grant same-sex couples marriage rights in the country, Gay Star News reports.

Finland's Parliament will consider if marriage equality should come to the country after gay marriage supporters gathered 162,000 signatures, backing the issue of gay marriage. Gay Star News reports that this is the largest number of signatures collected in favor of a citizen's initiative for same-sex marriage. The supporters only needed 50,000 signatures for Finland's Parliament to consider the initiative. Supporters say they were aiming to collect 250,000 signatures of the Scandinavian country's 5.4 million population.

According to a new poll by the Tahdon2013 (I Do 2013) campaign, 58 percent of Finland's citizens back marriage equality. Just 34 percent are against legalizing same-sex marriage.

Though Finland does not recognize full marriage equality, same-sex couples have been able to enter into "registered partnerships" since 2002, which is similar to a civil union in the U.S. Additionally, Finland is the only Scandinavian country that has not legalized gay marriage.

In February Finland was on its way to legalize same-sex marriage but the country's Parliament's Legal Affairs Committee voted it down.