July 14, 2022

Slovenia approves same-sex marriage and adoption rights!

topic:	LGBT Rights
located:	Slovenia
editor:	Katarina Panić

Last Friday, the historical ruling of the Slovenian constitutional court's decision regarding the LGBTQ+ community’s human rights shook the local media. The court found the current legislation anti-constitutional on two points: firstly, the stipulation that prescribes that marriage can be formed only by two people of different sexes; the second is the provision that same-sex partners cannot adopt children. According to the court, both violate the constitutional prohibition of discrimination.

"We welcome the Slovenian Constitutional Court's decision that a marriage is a life union of two persons, regardless of gender and that same-sex partners can jointly adopt. We urge the Slovenian government to ratify the decision ASAP so that equality can prevail," ILGA Europe tweeted. 

The court gave the parliament six months to remove these two unconstitutional legal provisions. However, the media reports that the decision of the constitutional judges practically means that LGBTQ+ people may instantly exercise these rights without waiting for the legislators to change the current laws or introduce new ones. 

The court announced that this ruling does not mean that same-sex partners will have an absolute right to adopt a child in the future. Still, they will be allowed to be included in the list of candidates. The selection of the most suitable candidates will continue to be done by the social care centres in their usual procedure, but without eliminating same-sex couples.

The association for the protection of the rights of sexually diverse people (LEGEBITRA) welcomed the court’s decision, announcing it brings significant change, both practically and symbolically. "This is a complete victory for us after long efforts of the civil society," Lana Gobec from LEGEBITRA told the media.

Slovenia was the first ex-Yugoslavian country that allowed same-sex couples to enter into a living union. They could be registered at the municipality, but this did not grant them a legal marital status, nor did they have the right to apply for the adoption of children, until now.

"We have always been the most progressive on this issue among the other countries of Eastern Europe, so, logically, we follow this tradition which dates back thirty-five years," Nataša Sukič, a lesbian activist and an MP of the ruling left-wing Levica party stressed. 

Photo by Paul Bryan

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