Switzerland on Sunday voted strongly in favour of a new law against homophobia in a referendum, against opposition from the populist rightwing Swiss People’s Party (SVP).

Incomplete results showed 60.5 percent voted in favour of widening existing laws against discrimination of 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.

With results in from 23 out of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, the preliminary figures showed that the highest approval rate was in Geneva with 76.3 percent and that the rural cantons of Appenzell Innerrhoden, Schwyz and Uri had voted against.

The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018 but critics, who believe it will end up censoring free speech, had forced a referendum on the issue.

Eric Bertinat, an SVP local lawmaker in Geneva, told AFP before the vote that he believed the law was “part of an […]