Equal Marriage passes at Holyrood!
The Scottish Parliament has just voted same-sex marriage into law 105-18! We are absolutely delighted - Greens all over the world have been campaigning for marriage equality for decades.
You can join us in celebrating equal marriage on Twitter and Facebook by changing your avatar:
It's been a long road to this historic achievement. Patrick Harvie made his first speeches in Parliament demanding marriage equality a decade ago, before there were even civil partnerships. Here he is speaking almost exactly two years ago, at the start of the campaign for the law Holyrood passed today:
And you can read his speech in the first Holyrood debate on the new Marriage and Civil Partnerships Bill, and watch it below (begin at 28 minutes 55 seconds):
This morning, Patrick said:
"Holyrood may have taken a little longer to reach the final stage today, but for once we’ve ended up with better law as a result. The rights of transgender people as well as same-sex couples are being respected, and I’ll be delighted to see the Bill pass with a substantial majority."
We'll have the video and transcript from his barnstorming speech this afternoon up here as soon as it's available.