The European Court of Human Rights held that Russia violates the right to respect for private and family life, according to the European Convention on Human Rights, by not providing a legal framework that recognizes the union between same-sex couples.
The sentence was based on the case of three homosexual couples who, in 2010, sued the Government of Vladimir Putin. Citizens denounced discrimination as they were denied the opportunity to formalize their relationships. They argued that their applications were rejected in the civil registries on several occasions.
The government of that country used as an excuse that the majority of Russian citizens do not agree with equal marriage, but the european court dismissed this argument, considering that the rights of a minority do not depend on the rest of society. What’s more, determined that this justification is invalid to prevent couples from formalizing their relationship before the law.
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Furthermore, the Court reiterated that the Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights “It does not explicitly impose on States the obligation to formally recognize same-sex unions, but it does imply the need to strike a fair balance between the competing interests of same-sex couples and the community as a whole.” This is why the Court suggested that, taking into account that the Russian Constitution allows only civil union between men and women, they can be allowed to same-sex couples formalize their relationships through avenues other than marriage.
However, Vladimir Putin rejected this option. “There is no need to seek any alternative form of registration of these unions,” the spokesman for the Russian presidency declared at a press conference. Dmitri Peskov. In this case, the decision made by Putin is endorsed by the Constitution, which establishes that Russia is not obliged to obey orders that come from international organizations and that are contrary to national laws.
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Despite homosexuality in Russia is legal since 1993 and was removed from the mental illness list six years later, the Russian LGBT + community continues to be discriminated against and violated both by society and by the government in the hands of Vladimir Putin.
In 2013, a law prohibiting homosexual propaganda between minors. “Let a person grow and mature, and then decide who he is. Leave the children alone ”, he had said in 2019. In July 2020 prohibited same-sex marriage, reaffirming the protection of the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman. “As long as I am president, there will not be dad one and dad two, but mom and dad,” he said.
