Today the marriage laws will be made gender neutral.
Sometimes I’m proud of my country 
It’d never work here; makes too much sense.
:::standing ovation for Norway!:::
That’s fantastic. I’m proud of your country too. Maybe your country can teach my country (USA) a thing or two about equality.
Was this seen as a big change or a contentious issue in Norway?
Awesome! But still, drat you norwegians…beating California by 6 days. ::grumble mutter::
It was slow process, and there has been a decades long public debate on the issue.
On the other hand, it has been a continuous process - fifteen years ago we got the partnership option, which allowed a “limited marriage” to same-sex couples. The most notable lack of the partnership law was that same-sex couples could not adopt children, and the Pater Est* law did not aply to lesbian couples. Gay Rights organisations have been fighting for these rights ever since (and before), and few years ago were simply fed up, and started petitioning for the Gender Neutral Marriage Law. And they got it.
Homosexuality has become steadily more accepted in Norway. The mayor of Oslo for many years was an out gay man, and there have been others.
In a way, I (an outsider - I was not raised in Norway) feel that this is a natural conclusion to a slow process - it’s been in the air for years, and it has long been clear that the issue will not go away.
And most people (sane people, atleast), and more importantly, most voters, have become aware of the inherent unfairness of denying a full marriage and family to loving couples.
It’s a big change, certainly, but not revolutionary. Society won’t be any different tomorrow. Acceptance came first, than we changed the law.
I’m not saying it’s easy being gay in Norway, but the norm is acceptance and equality. And now that will be the legal norm as well.
*IANAL, but as I understand it, the Pater Est law states that the legal father of a child is whomever the mother is married to at the time.
Dear, you can come over here and get married any day, and I’ll brew the mead to toast you with.