Same-sex marriage in Slovenia

From 2017 to 2022, Slovenia recognized same-sex partnerships providing all of the legal rights of marriage with the exception of joint adoption and in vitro fertilisation.

[6] From 2006 to 2017, Slovenia recognized a more limited form of registered partnerships for same-sex couples, which gave partners access to pension and property rights.

The opposition Social Democrats and Liberals argued that the proposed law was too weak and refused to take part in the voting.

[12][13] In response, the Minister of the Interior, Katarina Kresal, announced that the government of Borut Pahor would prepare a new law to legalise same-sex marriage.

[14] On 21 September 2009, the government presented a draft of a new family code to allow same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

[33][34] On 24 January 2011, due to the difficulty of passing the bill, the government announced its intention to amend it before final passage in the National Assembly.

[37] On 17 July 2011, the Ministry for Work, Family and Social Affairs allowed a woman to adopt her same-sex partner's biological child.

[45][46] On 14 April 2014, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Anja Kopač Mrak, presented a bill to grant partnerships all the rights of marriage, except for adoption and artificial insemination.

[47][48] However, the bill's fate was uncertain due early parliamentary elections on 13 July 2014, which were held following the resignation of Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek.

[49] In January 2015, Minister Anja Kopač Mrak said that the bill would be put on hold while a proposal to legalise same-sex marriage was to be considered by Parliament.

On 28 April, the Union of Migrant Workers (SDMS) filed a motion, with 2,500 signatures, in order to be allowed to proceed with a petition for a referendum.

[6] Couples were afforded an extra two months to convert their partnerships into marriages if they were unable to do so previously for "excusable reasons".

On 15 December 2014, the opposition United Left (ZL) introduced a bill to the Slovenian Parliament to legalise same-sex marriage.

[87] On 10 February 2015, the Committee on Labour, Family, Social Policy and Disability of the National Assembly passed the bill by 11 votes to 2.

[96][97] On 17 March, the leader of the SMC parliamentary group said that, although the party supported same-sex marriage legislation, it would not try to prevent a possible referendum on the issue.

[101] On the same day, a group of 23 deputies from SD, DeSUS, ZL and ZaAB filed a request calling for a special session of the Assembly in order to vote on a motion to block the referendum.

[104][105] The proponents of the referendum, who announced that they had collected 48,146 signatures before the Assembly's vote, said they would appeal the decision to the Constitutional Court, which they did on 2 April.

Discrimination against same-sex couples "cannot be justified with the traditional meaning of marriage as a union between a man and a woman", the court ruled.

The court ordered the Slovenian Parliament to bring legislation in line within six months, although the ruling would take effect immediately after publication.

[1][2] The court wrote that the decision "does not diminish the importance of traditional marriage as a union of a man and a woman, nor does it change conditions under which persons of the opposite sex marry.

The court also ruled that the ban on joint adoption by same-sex couples was inconsistent with the constitutional requirement for equal treatment.

[130][131][132] The LGBT rights group Legebitra released the following statement, "After more than 30 years of demands for legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, we are finally closer to actual equality.

[4] On 28 October 2022, the National Assembly approved a resolution by 45 votes to 27 with 2 abstentions, deeming a proposed referendum on changes to the Family Code inadmissible.

[140][141] The bill was signed into law by President Borut Pahor, and published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia on 28 October.

[144][145] Opponents of the legislation were informed that they had 15 days from the publication date to contest the decision to the Constitutional Court (i.e. until 12 November),[146] which they did within that time period.

[6] Article 3 of the Family Code now reads:[6] According to the Ministry of the Interior, 345 same-sex partnerships had been converted to marriages by 31 July 2023.

A separate question in the same survey found that 51% of Slovenians supported the bill which was being debated in the National Assembly at the time to allow same-sex marriage, while 42% were against.

[156] A poll conducted by Delo in March 2015 showed that a majority of respondents thought that the Constitutional Court should not allow a referendum on the issue of same-sex marriage.