Greenland’s same-sex marriage law went into effect today (1 April).

An autonomous country Arctic within Denmark but based off North America, Greenland unanimously passed the amendment to the Marriage Act last year.

The law will also allow church weddings, like Denmark when they legalized same-sex marriage in 2012.

Greenland’s Bishop Sofie Petersen, the country’s top religious figure, worked closely with the government to ensure the law would allow same-sex couples to marry in churches and other religious buildings.

While it was originally intended to come into effect on 1 October, it lapsed due to Denmark’s summer parliamentary elections. A second, almost-identical bill was submitted to parliament in October 2015 where it was quickly passed unanimously and received Royal Assent in early February.

The joint adoption clause included in Greenland’s new Marriage Act will go into effect on 1 July.

Nivi Olson, the Minister for the Church, said: ‘We have long waited for this day. To have the opportunity to enter into marriage means a lot to many couples regardless of the gender of one’s partner.’