Church minister said she will look into having gay partnerships – but not marriages – recognised by the National Church

Integration and church minister Birthe Rønn Hornbech has said she will look into the possibility of the National Church providing a framework to register same-sex partnerships, reports Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper.

The issue has received much media attention since Monday, when the advisory council at Copenhagen’s Hyltebjerg Church decided that gay couples should have the same rights as male-female couples within the National Church. The council then wrote to the ministry recommending the move.

That recommendation touched off a media storm to which Hornbech has now responded. But while she said she is open to gay partnerships being registered, she flatly rejected the idea of giving the Church’s approval to gay marriages.

Hornbech said that marriage within the Christian Church was ‘a ritual created to be between man and woman’.

The minister said she plans to discuss the issue with key figures in the National Church before making a final decision on the issue.

A poll among the nation’s ministers and vicars taken by Berlingske Tidende newspaper showed that a slight majority of them support a law change to allow gay marriages within the church. That result was a change from a poll conducted by Kristeligt Dagblad in 2007 that showed most were against the idea.

Four parties in parliament – the Social Democrats, Socialist People’s Party, Social Liberals and Liberal Alliance – are in the process of drafting proposals aimed at giving gay couples the same rights as male-female couples.