Alois Carnier, 57, and Peter Leu, 67, said “wholeheartedly, I do” to each other on Friday as same-sex marriages became legal in Switzerland.
Gay Marriage in Switzerland takes effect: On Friday (July 1, 2022) was the first time two men have walked out of a civil registry in Switzerland as husband and husband.
The first gay wedding registry was recorded in the city of Schaffhausen, Alois Carnier and Peter Leu, a gay couple who registered their partnership in 2014. “I think it’s important that our marriage is recognized equally and isn’t put to the side in a special category,” Leu told Reuters.
“The ceremony was really very important to me because this has been 20 years in the making,” said Carnier.
“The symbolism is important,” newlywed Stefano Perfetti (in the picture) told BBC News after participating in a mass wedding in Zurich and together with his now husband Luca, is the first gay couple to register as married in canton Zurich. “It is very important to us that we are equal and that we are treated like everyone else.”
Last November the government announced ‘Marriage for All’ a law of the land, after 64% of the Swiss public voted in the groundbreaking referendum on the issue in September. Taking effect July 1, 2022, the gay marriage law makes Switzerland one of the last countries in Western Europe to legalize same-sex marriage (better late than never!).
Greece, Italy, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino are the western European countries where same-sex marriage is still hasn’t become a law.