Latvia Legalizes Same-Sex Civil Partnerships
Another celebration for the LGBTQ community around the globe! Parliament in Latvia has just voted to allow same-sex couples to legally establish civil unions in a historic win for the LGBTQ community! Coming into effect in the middle of 2024, these civil unions will see LGBTQ couples afford certain tax and social security benefits that they currently do not enjoy, as well as hospital visitation rights.
Despite the change in legal status, same-sex couples wouldn’t get the full extent of legal recognition that their heterosexual counterparts enjoy, as marriage is still legally defined as a union between a man and a woman. This means that LGBTQ couples will remain unable to adopt children and will continue to face legal issues when it comes to inheritance issues.
However, gay rights activist Kaspars Zalitis is happy with the changes and feels like this is a step in the right direction.
“This is a great beginning,” he told Reuters. “Latvia is not one of the six countries in the European Union that have no recognition for same-sex couples.”
Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Hungary are among those that currently have no legal recognition of LGBTQ people at all.
These landslide changes come just after Edgars Rinkēvičs was appointed as President earlier this year. He is Latvia’s (and Europe’s) first out, gay man to be appointed to such a position in history. He was sworn in as President on July 8, 2023.
Despite the implementation of these changes in favor of the LGBGTQ community, the Justice Minister in Latvia, Inese Libina-Egnere, said that the parliament in Latvia had no intention of providing the LGBTQ community with the same rights as heterosexual, married couples.
“We are acknowledging that we have families which are not married, and this is the way they can register their relationship,” she said. “The political will is to have a really specific kind of registered partnership.”
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Featured: Latvian and Pride flags at Baltic Pride in Tallinn, June 2017. Source: Baltic Pride/Facebook
