Civil Union Law suspended for just a moment

Exercising the right stipulated in the cooperation agreement between the coalition parties, the National Alliance (Nacionālā apvienība) has suspended for a week the referral of the Civil Union Law to the Saeima committees, which will, among other things, legalize same-sex couples. However, the majority of the Parliament will not be hindered from approving the bill by the obstacles put up by the National Alliance, nor by the objections of the leaders of Latvia's Christian churches.

On Thursday, the Saeima had planned to refer the Civil Union Law to the responsible committees, but following the National Alliance's call to remove this issue from the agenda, the referral of the bill to the committees was postponed for a week.

"I was approached by a number of conservative organizations who asked me to postpone the issue if possible. So the National Alliance took this opportunity," said Jānis Iesalnieks, a member of the Board of the National Alliance. "I hope and understand that there is an idea to individually approach MPs from other parties who have so far expressed conservative views, maybe some views will change before the vote next week."

This week, the leaders of Latvia's Christian churches also wrote to MPs urging them not to support the Civil Union Law. Among them are Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of the Roman Catholic Church in Riga, Archbishop Jānis Vanags of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Latvia and Metropolitan Aleksandrs of the Latvian Orthodox Church in Riga and All Latvia.

"There is war in Europe and tensions are rising. People are already exhausted and polarized by the restrictions of the pandemic. In our view, this is not the time to move a bill through Saeima that will further inflame emotions and increase controversy. We therefore call for people not to abandon the intention of achieving a balanced and acceptable framework for the wider society, through joint work with representatives of society,"

said the spiritual leaders, who believe that the relationships and rights of same-sex couples can be legally regulated in other laws, such as the Labor Law, and through notarized contracts.

However, the objections of both the National Alliance and the representatives of the churches and the rights exercised are only a time delay, as the majority of the Saeima is in favor of this draft law. Krišjānis Feldmans, whose ministry, under the auspices of the Conservatives (Konservatīvie) party, presented the draft law, is convinced of this. Other members of the coalition and the opposition supporting the bill share the same view.

The law was drafted in response to the Constitutional Court's 2020 judgment in the childbirth leave case, in which the Court found that the Constitution obliges the legislator to ensure legal protection for same-sex families, including the obligation to ensure the possibility to legally establish their relationship and be recognized as a family by the State.

The draft law states that its purpose will be to ensure the protection of the personal and property rights of persons entering into a civil union. The law will establish the procedure for the conclusion and dissolution of civil unions and the personal and property relations of the parties.

A civil union is to be defined as an agreement between two natural persons of legal age, notarially concluded, which establishes or terminates the non-property and property rights and obligations between them.

It will be prohibited for persons who are married, have a valid civil union with another person or are related by blood, for siblings, half-siblings or adoptive parents with their adopted children. In addition, a civil union will be an obstacle to marriage with a person with whom there is no mutual civil union.

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