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Alslandic Same-Sex Marriage referendum
Should the United Provinces of Alsland allow marriage between same-sex couples?
Location	Alsland
Date	15 June 2007 (2007-06-15)
Results Votes % Yes 3,935,311 7001592600000000000♠59.26% No 2,705,508 7001407400000000000♠40.74% Valid votes 6,640,819 7001995600000000000♠99.56% Invalid or blank votes 29,151 6999440000000000000♠0.44% Total votes 6,669,970 100.00% Registered voters/turnout 7,963,944 7001837500000000000♠83.75%
Results by province How the electorate voted, by province. Proportion of the valid poll voting yes:
Source: Alslandic Government

The 2007 Alslandic Same-Sex Marriage referendum took place on 15 June 2007 in Alsland to ask the electorate whether Alsland should legalise same-sex marriages. Prior to the referendum same-sex couples were allowed to enter civil unions and foreign marriages were recognised. The government of Jabik Nieuwenhuis promised a referendum on same-sex marriage in their manifesto for the 2005 General election. The referendum resulted in 59.3% of votes being cast in favour of legalising same-sex marriage. The resulting Marriage Act 2005 was passed nearly unanimously in the Folkssenaat and was signed by President Onne Monsma on August 11, 2005. The act came into force on November 23 2007 the day after Jabik Nieuwenhuis was removed from office by Onne Monsma. The first same-sex marriage ceremony in Alsland occurred on November 29 2007.

Support and Opposition

Party positions

Position	Political parties
Yes		Worker's Party
		Progressive Alliance
		The Centre
		ASAY
		United Democratic Union
		Greens and Socialists
		Radical*
No		Justice Party*
		Alslandic Resistance
		National Rally
No official stance		National Bloc*
		Democrats

Campaign

Attempted assassination of Jabik Nieuwenhuis

On 14 June 2007, the day before the scheduled date of the referendum and the final day of campaigning, Tilman Schricker a 42 year old man from Garz attempted to stab Premier Jabik Nieuwenhuis with a 12 inch Kitchen Knife at a campaign visit in Werdau. Nieuwenhuis escaped injury after Schricker stabbed a police officer in the shoulder who had been preventing Schricker from approaching Nieuwenhuis. Schricker was detained immediately after this and Nieuwenhuis was evacuated. Campaigning was suspended nationwide for the rest of the day.

When questioned following his arrest, Schricker didn't cite the referendum as a cause for the attempted assassination but it was later revealed that Schricker was a member of the anti-LGBT Stadtbäumer Foundation which had vigorously opposed the referendum. However initial reports in the media said the attempted assassination was motivated by the decision to hold the referendum and Nieuwenhuis' support for same-sex marriage.

Result

National result

2007 Alslandic Same-sex Marriage referendum

Choice	Votes	%
Yes	3,935,311	59.3
No	2,705,508	40.7
Valid votes	6,640,819	99.6
Invalid or blank votes	29,151	0.4
Total votes	6,669,970	100.00
Registered voters and turnout	7,963,944	83.8

Referendum results

Yes: 3,935,311 (59.3%)	No: 2,705,508 (40.7%)
▲

Criticism

Plans to hold a referendum were criticised by several LGBT rights advocacy groups who called the decision to have the majority vote on the rights of a minority group. During initial debates on holding a referendum, Senator Emo Akkerman who is openly Bisexual said that holding a referendum could set a dangerous precedence for other countries to deny LGBT citizens their rights if a referendum is held. Akkerman voted to hold the referendum during the vote on the issue.

In 2011, Premier Jonathan Fraser criticised the move to hold a referendum saying that the process would have been much faster had the Marriage Act 2005 been voted on in the Folkssenaat where there was overwhelming support for it. Fraser was outed as Gay in 2003 and was one of the most prominent figures within the 'Yes' campaign.