A citizens' initiative for a gender-neutral marriage law has been signed by some 166,000 Finns. Meanwhile, a counter-petition, opposing the legalization of same-sex marriage has gathered over 42,000 signatures.
The latest poll commissioned by Tahdon2013, a civic organizing advocating a gender-neutral law, carried out earlier this month found that 65% of the public support the change, while 27% oppose it.
A proposal on gender-neutral marriage sponsored by 76 MPs was before Parliament a year ago, but was sent to the Legal Affairs Committee for review where it was rejected in a 9-8 vote.
Yle will be streaming the hearing on the citizens' initiative live in its online Areena service approxiamtely 10-12 AM.