Absence of same-sex partnerships in Lithuania's Civil Code 'unconstitutional' - court

VILNIUS - The institution of partnership, as now defined in Lithuania's Civil Code, is unconstitutional because it only provides for a union between a man and a woman, excluding same-sex relationships, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.

"Article 3.229 of the Civil Code, insofar as it allows only a partnership between a man and a woman, runs counter to the Constitution," Gintaras Goda, president of the Constitutional Court, said.

The provision of the Law on the Approval, Entry into Force and Implementation of the Civil Code, which states that the norms on cohabitation without marriage registration come into force from the moment of the entry into force of a separate law regulating the procedure for registration of partnerships, has also been declared as being in conflict with the basic law.

The Seimas provided for civil partnerships for male-female couples in the Civil Code 24 years ago but has so far failed to adopt a law defining them in detail.

The Constitutional Court was asked to assess two provisions of the Civil Code and its enacting law by the former center-right government.

Currently, Lithuanian laws do not recognize either male-female or same-sex civil partnerships.

Bills to legalize same-sex partnerships in one form or another have so far failed to pass the parliament.

A civil union bill, which would recognize same-sex partnerships, passed two readings in the previous parliament but was not put to a final vote due to a lack of support.

The bill proposed that civil union partners would jointly own shared property, with the option to agree on a different property regime. They would also inherit from each other under the law without paying inheritance tax, be able to act on each other's behalf and in each other’s interests, represent each other in healthcare matters, and access each other's medical information.