Homosexuality tolerated but not accepted throughout the EU, as Slovakia votes against same-sex marriage in referendum

Gay Europe still has a long way to go

For decades, homosexuality was a taboo topic in Slovakia. It has only entered public discourse in the last 10 years.tolerated

The country, which joined the EU in 2004, has an anti-discrimination law that protects lesbians and gay men.

But neither same-sex marriage nor registered partnerships exist. Homosexuals are also not permitted to adopt children. Since the summer of 2014, marriage has been defined in the Slovak constitution exclusively as the union of a man and a woman.

On Saturday February 7, Slovakia votes against same sex marriage in referendum

Unofficial reports announced that about 54 percent of voters opposed the law [AFP report], while 44-percent favored it. Last month, conservative advocacy group Civil Initiative for the Family and the Rights of Children, with the help of Catholic supporters, collected and filed the required 40,000 signatures [STA report] to challenge the law to a referendum vote. Labor, Family and Social Affairs Minister Andrej Vizjak [official profile, in Slovenian] responded to the referendum results, saying that the government would respect the will of the people [statement audio, in Slovenian] and would draft a new proposal. 

Since 2004, 13 nations have joined the European Union and 10 of them either prohibit or do not recognize homosexual marriage, while the remaining three allow some legal "partnership" recognitions but not on the same level as heterosexual marriage.  In the most recent vote on the issue, in Croatia on Dec. 1, the Catholic and Orthodox churches led a strong campaign against same-sex marriage.

Croatia entered the European Union (EU) in July last year, making it the 28th and newest member of the union.  Among its 4.4 million citizens, 87.8% identify as Roman Catholics and 4.4% as Orthodox Christian.  After the center-left government crafted a same-sex “life partners” law back in May, the Catholic Church and other denominations rallied behind a referendum to amend Croatia’s constitution to legally define marriage as between one man and one woman.

The marriage question was the third referendum in Croatia since the country became independent in 1991.

The referendum asked, “Do you agree that marriage is matrimony between a man and a woman?” As reported by the state electoral commission to numerous media, 65% of Croatians voted “yes” and 34% voted “no.” .

Besides Croatia, 12 other nations, all from Eastern Europe, have joined the EU since 2004.  Not one of those nations legally recognizes homosexual "marriage" and only three permit some legal standing for same-sex couples.

Probably Zelka Markic, the leader of “In the Name of the Family,” which pushed hard in favor of the referendum in Croatia, gave the best possible (democratic) answer to solving this issue, when she said: “We believe that marriage, children, and family are such important issues that the whole society has to decide on them -  by a referendum - and not just by a Government decree or law, unless it has the support of the majority.”



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