Swiss Referendum on Same-Sex Marriage

From the Guardian:

Switzerland will hold a referendum on whether to push ahead with same-sex marriage after opponents forced the government to hold a binding vote on a 2020 law allowing gay couples to marry.

The Swiss parliament passed a bill recognising same-sex marriage last December, several years after most other western European states.

On Tuesday, the country’s federal chancellery announced that critics of the law had gathered 61,027 valid signatures in favour of putting the matter to a national vote.

Under Switzerland’s system of direct democracy, members of the public can veto parliamentary decisions via a referendum if they manage to collect 50,000 valid signatures within 100 days of the official publication of the act.

Read more here.