Slovenians Reject Same-Sex Marriage in Referendum

Slovenians have rejected by a large margin a bill giving same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children in a referendum held on Sunday, STA reported.

According to preliminary results, 63.5% voted against a bill that defined marriage as a union of two consenting adults while 36.5% voted for it, the AP said. Conservatives were particularly opposed to allowing same-sex couples to adopt children.

Slovenia's Parliament approved a bill in March that allowed same-sex couples to marry and adopt children, but a Catholic Church-backed movement called Children Are at Stake appealed to the country's top court calling for a referendum. Under Slovenia's Constitution, opponents needed to convince a majority to say "No."

Required turnout is 20% of all eligible voters for the result to be binding.