Thursday, January 11, 2018

Court Adviser Says All EU Countries Must Recognize Same-Sex Couple Rights


The Guardian reports:

The rights of same-sex spouses must be recognised by every member of the EU, even if a country’s government has not authorised gay marriage, the European court of justice has been advised.

In what has been hailed as a major step forward for equal rights, Melchior Wathelet, a Belgian advocate general in the Luxembourg court, said gay spouses had standing in countries even where governments were implacably opposed to same-sex marriage.

Opinions given by ECJ advocate generals are non-binding on the court’s judges but are normally followed by the full court. A final decision will be delivered in the coming months.

See full story here.


Currently 22 of the 28 countries in the Europe Union recognize some type of same-sex unions. Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, and Latvia do not recognize same-sex unions.

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