Austria Legalizes Adoption By Same-Sex Couples, Won’t Let Them Get Married

Ban Ki-moon at the 60th anniversary of the European Convention of Human Rights at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Matthew Tharrett | Queerty | August 5, 2013

With the passage of a brand new law on August 1, Austria became the 13  European nation to legally recognize the adoption of a child by unmarried  same-sex parents. An amendment to the Austrian Civil Code was passed on July 4,  following a recommendation from the European Court of Human Rights.

The case was previously brought to the Austrian Supreme Court, who ruled that  unmarried same-sex couples could not jointly adopt a child because article 182§2  of the Austrian Civil Code blatantly stated that couples adopting children  should consist of “parents of opposite gender.” The unnamed plaintiffs initially  filed their first complaint in 2007.

via Pride  News:

On 19 February 2013, the Court decided that  Austria violated Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) in conjunction with  Article 8 (the right to respect private and family life) of the European  Convention on Human Rights.

The Court concluded that “the Government has  failed to adduce particularly weighty and convincing reasons to show that  excluding second-parent adoption in a same-sex couple, while allowing that  possibility in an unmarried different-sex couple, was necessary for the  protection of the family in the traditional sense or for the protection of the  interests of the child. The distinction is therefore incompatible with the  Convention”.

Currently, same-sex marriage is still not recognized by the Austrian  government. Same-sex couples may file for a “registered partnership” and be  married within the country, but do not have access to the same government  marital benefits as heterosexual couples do.

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