Members of the organization 'Operation Libero' stage a marriage for different types of couple in Bern, Switzerland, on September 26.PETER SCHNEIDER / EFE
Switzerland approved same-sex marriage in a referendum this Sunday.
The measure, backed by 64% of the votes, will allow these couples to adopt children and, in the case of single women or lesbian couples, have access to assisted reproductive techniques.
The initiative has reached the polls after seven years of political and parliamentary debates on the need to recognize same-sex couples rights and duties that heterosexual couples already have.
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The bulk of the political formations supported the initiative promoted by the Green Party.
Opponents of equal marriage have been the ultra-nationalist SVP party, some religious groups and others who argue that marriage should be reserved for a couple consisting of a man and a woman.
Switzerland becomes the thirtieth country in the world to take this step and thus comes out of the small group of Western European countries that have not yet legalized gay marriage and in which Italy, Greece and Liechtenstein have remained.
In these three countries, however, there are different types of legal figures that recognize these unions.
The Netherlands was the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage twenty years ago.
In Spain, the Congress of Deputies approved it in 2005.
Until now, Switzerland recognized the union of two people of the same sex through the so-called registered alliances, a figure approved in 2007 and that has since guaranteed rights such as choosing a common surname, access to the inheritance of the spouse or income widowhood, among others.
Since 2018 it also allowed them to adopt the couple's son or daughter.
From now on, couples of married women and those who decide to have a child alone will be able to access a sperm donation in Switzerland, where anonymous donations are prohibited.
That means that the son or daughter will be able to know the identity of the donor when they turn 18, although the two women will be recognized as mothers from birth.