Abstract
The chapter focuses on the legal and social situation of LGBTQ+ in Latvia and Lithuania. It analyses the legal regulation of same-sex couples, same-sex partnership/marriage, adoption and family planning, and protection against discrimination in a wider social context.
Although Latvia and Lithuania decriminalised homosexuality in 1992 and 1993 respectively, registered partnership or marriage is still not open for same-sex people. Lithuania failed to implement a sex reassignment law, thus persistently neglecting the rights of transgender persons. In 2010, the Law on the Protection of Minors against the Detrimental Effects of Public Information was introduced, effectively restricting information relating to LGBTQ+ because same-sex relationships are widely regarded as negative information directed against family values.
In Latvia, despite some official initiatives from society calling for the legal recognition of same-sex couples, the parliament has still not approved any legal regulation in this regard. At the end of 2020, the Constitutional Court of Latvia ruled that the state should protect the family in the broader understanding, including families of the same sex. This judgement has divided Latvian society into two opposing factions. In January 2021, as a protest against this judgement, amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia were proposed in the Parliament, thus placing the topic of the concept of family on the legislative agenda.
Artūras Теrеškinas is author of Sects. 1, 2, 4. Annija Kārkliņa and Anita Rodiņa are authors of Sects. 3 and 4.
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Notes
- 1.
The last few years also saw an equality campaign entitled ‘LGBT friendly Vilnius’ carried out by a film director and activist Romas Zabarauskas. He and an artist Arcana Femina have published a collection of LGBTQ+ coming out stories (Zabarauskas and Arcana Femina 2016). For more, see http://www.vilnius-tourism.lt/en/what-to-see/vilnius-for-you/lgbt-friendly-vilnius/ and https://cafebabel.com/en/article/friendly-vilnius-map-dont-fight-the-rainbow-5ae00bcef723b35a145e7f16/.
- 2.
For example, the Association of LGBT and their Friends ‘Mozaīka’ is particularly active.
- 3.
Section 150(3) provides: “For the act provided in Paragraph one of this Section, if it is related to violence or threats or the criminal offence provided in Paragraph one of this Section, if it has been committed by an organised group, the applicable punishment is the deprivation of liberty for a period of up to four years or temporary deprivation of liberty, or community service, or a fine.”
- 4.
See Chapter 53 “Consideration of collective submissions” of the Rules of Procedure of the Saeima.
- 5.
This chapter takes into account the legal situation and developments up to April 2021.
- 6.
In 2017, the Constitutional Court received several applications from the Administrative District Court requesting examination of the constitutionality of the provisions of the Law on Registration of Civil Status Documents which did not include the registration of same-sex couples. For example, in one application, the Administrative District Court requested the Constitutional Court to review compliance of Section 3(1) of the Law on Registration of Civil Status Documents and Section 35(2) of the Civil Law since these norms did not provide for the registration of same-sex relationships (marriage or partnership) and did not ensure the right to family life, with Article 91, Article 96 and Article 110 of the Satversme (The 2nd Panel of the Constitutional Court 2017c). In all instances, the Constitutional Court’s Panels refused to initiate a case because of a deficiency in the legal reasoning (The 2nd Panel of the Constitutional Court 2017a).
- 7.
Preamble of the Satversme states: “[…] Latvia as a democratic, socially responsible and national state is based on the rule of law and on respect for human dignity and freedom […]”.
- 8.
After the expiration of the two-month term which is provided by the Constitutional Court Law Section 33 part 1, two separate opinions of the judges of the Constitutional Court were published which showed the ‘other side’ of the debate and the fact that there was not a consensus of the judges on the judgment. See Dissenting Opinion of Justice of the Constitutional Court Aldis Laviņš in case No. 2019-33-01 and Dissenting Opinion of Justice of the Constitutional Court Sanita Osipova in case No. 2019-33-01.
- 9.
The draft law expresses Article 110 of the Satversme in the following wording: “110. The State shall protect and support marriage – a union between a man and a woman, the family based on marriage, consanguinity or adoption, the rights of parents and rights of the child, including the right to grow up in the family, the foundation of which is formed by the mother (woman) and the father (man). The State shall provide special support to disabled children, children left without parental care or who have suffered from violence”.
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Теrеškinas, A., Kārkliņa, A., Rodiņa, A. (2022). Between Injustice and Legal Change: The Situation of LGBTQ+ People in Latvia and Lithuania. In: Limantė, A., Pūraitė-Andrikienė, D. (eds) Legal Protection of Vulnerable Groups in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. European Union and its Neighbours in a Globalized World, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06998-7_17
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