Govt adopts legislative changes on same-sex marriage, adoptions

Ljubljana – The government adopted on Friday legislative changes to remedy the regulation prohibiting homosexual couples from getting married or adopting children. The changes to the family code will be fast tracked through parliament, the Government Communication Office said.

This comes after the Constitutional Court announced last week that a law under which only heterosexual partners can marry and same-sex couples cannot adopt children was a violation of the constitutional ban on discrimination.

The court gave the National Assembly six months to amend the law accordingly, but until then its ruling stands as the law and means that marriage is a union between two persons regardless of gender, and same-sex partners living in a civil partnership may adopt a child together under the same conditions as married spouses.

The court deliberated on the matter based on a constitutional complaint by two same-sex couples who, respectively, failed in front of regular courts to marry or to make the list of candidates for adoption.

The government welcomed the ruling with Minister of Labour, the Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Luka Mesec immediately announcing legislative changes to implement the ruling.

He said the ministry shared the Constitutional Court’s view that the prohibition of marriage and adoptions for gay couples is unconstitutional. The ministry also agrees that the constitutional requirement for equal treatment of heterosexual and same-sex couples demands equal legal position in adoptions.

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