The Saeima will start work on formulating the concept of family

The discussion about strengthening the concept of family in the Constitution has become mean and intolerant. LGBTQ+ and the liberal public that supports it are calling conservative thinkers backward fools. And this conflict has just moved from social networks to the Saeima.

The amendments to Article 110 of the Constitution initiated by the National Alliance (Nacionālā Apvienība) have been submitted to the Saeima commissions for consideration. There were 47 votes in favor, 25 against. No abstentions, but 21 did not vote. Apparently, Harmony (Saskaņa) was hoping to break the quorum, others might just be afraid to vote against their group's decision. Who knows. Here is the transcript of the vote.

The fight is not over yet

The inclusion of the draft law in the agenda of the Saeima promises absolutely nothing to their submitters or opponents. The fight will continue.

For several years now, the legislator has had to judge with some regularity the so-called regulation of partnerships demanded by sexual minorities. Simply put, the right to marry, but for those who do not want to get married, the right to be considered a family. Even now, on the public initiative website Mana Balss, it is possible to sign "For the legal protection of all families". Some day this regular request will be sent to the Saeima again, but now the routine rejection will no longer be appropriate because the Constitutional Court has said its part. Paternity leave for fathers has been granted by a court judgment to a woman who is not the child's mother and all the more so not the child's father. Such an interpretation of the Labor Law requires a fundamental change in the understanding of the family in all relevant regulatory enactments and in the country as a whole.

It is necessary to formulate who is who

In the conservative part of the society, the scandalous judgment of the Constitutional Court is perceived as interference in the issues to be decided by the people. Therefore, there has been a request to politicians to formulate the concept of family in the Constitution even more clearly. To write that the mother is a woman, that the father is a man and that gender is not a mystical social construction, but a biologically determined fact. Of course, the wording proposed by the National Alliance is in no way in line with the ideological and political interests of LGBTQ+. The draft law and its annotation can be found here.

LGBTQ+ interest lobbyists claim that the amendments to Article 110 of the Constitution propose to narrow the concept of family. That it is against same-sex families. Discrimination. That the state must not particularly protect one group of society - natural families. This is paradoxical, because in another political initiative supported by LGBTQ+ - Latvia's accession to the so-called Istanbul Convention - they encourage the granting of special protection to themselves.

Only LGBTQ+ can be protected

Here are the specially protected groups in the "The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence":

"For the purpose of this Convention, persons made vulnerable by particular circumstances include: pregnant women and women with young children, persons with disabilities, including those with mental or cognitive impairments, persons living in rural or remote areas, substance abusers, prostitutes, persons of national or ethnic minority background, migrants - including undocumented migrants and refugees, gay men, lesbian women, bi-sexual and transgender persons as well as HIV-positive persons, homeless persons, children and the elderly."

Thus, these groups, including LGBT people, are considered specially protected in the document. And similarly, the Latvian Constitution protects the family. Only at the time when the concept of “family” was included in the national core law and special protection was given to the family, the legislator did not think that the very essence of the concept of family would be questioned in the near future - mother being a woman, father being a man and child being the result of their relations.

Before the bill was considered, LGBTQ+ spread misleading information that it will deprive single parents of state protection. Or, for example, families where the child lives with grandparents. Or has been adopted. It is not true.

The Constitution protects and will continue to protect every Latvian citizen!

Two-thirds must be collected

Before considering the issue of accepting amendments to the Constitution, the inboxes of the Saeima deputies were filled with individual and collective letters sent from both sides of the trenches. The conservative population apparently did better in persuading Members. But it will not be that easy anymore. A simple majority is enough to submit a bill to the commissions, but a two-thirds majority is required to pass the bill and amend the national constitution. So, at least 67 deputies. Judging by the vote on 14 January, securing so much support will be problematic. But until the third final reading in the Saeima, a lot of fighting is expected.