Ban on Same-Sex Marriages and Adoption Unconstitutional: Slovenian Court Ruling – National | Globalnews.ca

A top court in Slovenia has ruled that a ban on same-sex couples marrying and adopting children is unconstitutional in the small European country and has ordered its parliament to amend the law within six months to ensure they can do so.

Constitutional Court judges ruled 6-3 on both issues on Friday, saying Slovenia’s laws allowing only opposite-sex marriages and adoptions violated a constitutional prohibition against discrimination.

Discrimination against same-sex couples “cannot be justified by the traditional meaning of marriage as a union between a man and a woman, nor by the special protection of the family,” according to the ruling published by the Slovenian Press Agency.

The ruling, which the court says has immediate effect, paves the way for LGBTQ rights in Central and Eastern Europe, where several countries have constitutional bans on same-sex marriage and none have so far allowed same-sex couples They get married.

The Estonian government came closer in 2016 by agreeing to recognize same-sex unions created in other countries. Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Montenegro have laws establishing same-sex civil unions.

The court decision in Slovenia, which was a socialist republic under a communist regime as part of the former Yugoslavia before becoming an independent country in 1991, came just weeks after a liberal national government took power, replacing one led by right-wing conservatives.

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While the court gave lawmakers six months to amend existing laws to comply with the ruling, the required changes would be ready in a week or two, said Luka Mesec, minister for labour, family, social affairs and equal opportunities.

“The Constitutional Court has ordered us to do it and we will do it with the greatest pleasure,” said Mesec.

The court took up the issue after complaints from two same-sex couples that they could not marry or qualify to adopt children.

The decision “does not diminish the importance of traditional marriage as a union of a man and a woman, nor does it change the conditions under which persons of the opposite sex marry,” the justices said. “All it means is that same-sex couples can now marry just like heterosexual couples.”