SLOVAKIA: Anti-Gay Group Forces Vote On Marriage And Same-Sex Adoption
Slovakian President Andrej Kiska has announced that the country will hold a referendum on same-sex marriage in early 2015. The conservative group, Alliance for Family, has supported the move. The group has gathered 400,000 signatures supporting the idea of a referendum that will seek to ask Slovakians if they agree that marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman. The referendum will also ask citizens if they agree that same-sex partners can’t adopt children, and that children won’t have to attend sex education classes at school if their parents wish to keep them away. Kiska asked Slovakia’s constitutional court (ÚS) to rule last month on whether such a referendum would violate the constitution. ÚS ruled that it did not, but turned down a question on registered partnerships being included. Alliance for Family had previously wanted to include a question that could potentially implement a ban on any future recognition of same-sex partnerships.The petition for the referendum was backed the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom. When the legislative ban was enacted in June, hate group leader Brian Brown applauded Slovakia for not being "duped by this demonic incursion of sexual anarchy." A majority of Slovakians identify as Catholic.
RELATED: Eight members of the 28-nation European Union have legalized same-sex marriage: Finland, Belgium, Denmark, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (England & Wales). Nine EU members offer civil unions or partnerships: Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovenia. Eleven EU nations currently offer no recognition of same-sex couples: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
Labels: Alliance Defending Freedom, bigotry, European Union, gay adoption, hate groups, LGBT rights, marriage equality, religion, Slovakia
