Voters in a Slovenian referendum have rejected an amendment to the country’s marriage law that would allow same-sex couples to wed. A family casts their vote in the referendum. Photo: Reuters/ Srdjan Zivulovic 63 per cent of voters in the referendum were against an amendment to the Marriage and Family Relations Act, securing the majority of the vote, with only 37 per cent of the vote in favour of same-sex marriage. The amendment had initially been approved by the Slovenian National Assembly in March before an opposition group gathered the 40,000 signatures required to call for a referendum on the issue, however the Slovenian Parliament voted to reject this request as popular votes on human rights issues had been constitutionally prohibited since 2013. Following an appeal to the Constitutional Court, the court authorised the referendum which took place on December 20. Evelyne Paradis, Executive Director of ILGA-Europe says the optimism of March 2015 now seem like a distant memory. “However, we will not lose hope,” she says. “In 2005, Slovenia became the first post-communist country to legally recognise same-sex partnership. It has led the way before and can do so again. We will continue to support our members in Slovenia to work towards greater equality for LGBTI families." A previous referendum to amend the Family Code to extend the legal protections available to same-sex couples in registered partnerships was rejected in 2012.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 22nd December 2015 - 12:02pm