The new law will widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.
“This is a historic day,” Mathias Reynard, a lawmaker from the Social Democratic Party of Switzerland who initiated the reform, told Swiss channel RTS 1.
“It gives a signal which is magnificent for everyone and for anyone who has been a victim of discrimination,” he said.
Marc Frueh, head of the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a small party based on Christian values, said after the projection: “I accept defeat”.
“We will keep a close eye on how the law is implemented by the courts,” he told RTS 1.
All of Switzerland’s major parties except the SVP, the biggest political force in parliament, support the law.
Under the new law, homophobic comments made in a family setting or among friends would not be criminalised. »