Slovenian referendum rejects same-sex marriage
The rejected law
was put forward by the ZL party (GUE) and supported by the centre-left
governing coalition. It would give LGBTI couples the right to adopt children formally which would de facto recognise marriage as an institution equal to
marriage. About 63.4 percent of voters rejected the law in a referendum while
36.6 percent supported it according to preliminary results published by the
State Electoral Commission. The Slovenian Parliament passed a bill last March
giving same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children but the law has
not yet been put into effect enforced because a civil society group called “For
Children” appealed to the top court, calling for a referendum. The
constitutional court of Slovenia allowed the referendum to take place.
In another
referendum on a similar question in 2012, almost 55 percent of voters in
Slovenia opposed giving more rights to same-sex couples. Since then, the
referendum legislation made the rejection of laws via referendums more
difficult, adding another condition to have not only a majority, but also 20%
of the vote-eligible population voting against a law in order to reject it. The
“For Children” NGO stated that: "[w]e are against the law that would deny the
basic right of a child to have a mother and a father". They also noted that they hope no one would see this result as a
defeat. On the other hand ZL (GUE) made a statement after the results were
known, saying that "this is not the end, this kind of law will be adopted
sooner or later.” In Slovenia gay couples have been able to formally register
their relationship already since 2006 and are also allowed to adopt children
from a partner's previous relationship - though not other children.
The overwhelming NO of the Slovenians sends a
clear message to the European political elites showing that ordinary citizens
should always be taken into account and that decision makers should respect
their judgement. Legislation on marriage
is and should remain a national competence. Therefore, the EU should stop exerting pressure on governments to introduce legislation that infringes on the
sovereign rights of Member States.
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