Norway ministers eye same-sex marriage

OSLO, Norway, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A Norwegian School of Management chaplain said this week that ministers nationwide may soon begin orchestrating same-sex marriages without a formal liturgy.

While the nation's religious leaders have been unable to formalize a liturgy for same-sex marriages, chaplain Nils Jaran Riedl said Norwegian ministers likely soon will move forward with such proceedings anyway, Aftenposten reported Wednesday.

"There will be a certain amount of civil disobedience. I want to start wedding homosexuals as soon as a new Marriage Act is in place," Riedl said.

Riedl, who is in a registered same-sex partnership, said the nation's ministers had the legal right to marry same-sex individuals without an approved liturgy.

The Norwegian newspaper said other clergymen supported Riedl's stance, saying they too would conduct same-sex wedding services without the presence of a formal liturgy.