Same-Sex Partnerships in the Region

In many countries of the region, the Law on the Protection against Discrimination was adopted and it includes protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. However, the LGBT+ community remains subject to multiple discrimination in many areas, including the area of family relations. Lately, the work on defining same-sex partnerships and legal framework in the region has been underway in hopes that the rights of the LGBT+ community will finally be defined, bringing it one step closer to freedom and equality. 

However, the attempts at adopting different legal frameworks for regulating same-sex partnerships and marriage were more successful in some countries than the others. Even though until just a few years ago, the idea of legally regulated same-sex partnerships was unthinkable in the Balkans, and today we are getting closer to exercising rights and freedoms for LGBT + people, some Balkan countries still have a long way to go. 

With this series of analytical articles, the Heinrich Böll Foundation wishes to tackle the process of law-making in the region and its timeline, as well as the experiences noticed by civil society organizations that shared their observations for this dossier. 

 

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An Uncertain Step Toward Marriage Equality

At the beginning of the 2010s, the queer movement in Serbia started its race for marriage equality. The deadline set by the state for this was the last quarter of 2017. However, not only was the Draft of the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships not compiled until this year, but not a single activity has been initiated by the competent authorities which would have resulted in awareness-raising among the general public on the necessity of regulating this issue.
By Miloš Kovačević

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