Jens Rydström

Why was Scandinavia the first place in the world to
introduce national laws allowing registered partnership between
same-sex couples? This article is a survey and historical
documentation of the registered partnership laws throughout
Scandinavia, documenting their origin in Denmark in 1989 and
their subsequent adoption by every Nordic country. The origins
of the laws are traced to the 1970s criticism of the nuclear
family, the AIDS epidemic, a general cultural emphasis of
consensus, and the structure of the welfare state. The article
investigates what the new homosexual family unit is permitted to
be, and asks whether the new laws have proven to be liberatory,
or a means of subtle repression and control.