President against “Mozaīka” bills

TVNET informs:

Today, after becoming acquainted with the proposals of the association “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Their Friends Association ‘Mozaika’” regarding twenty-four draft laws, the President of Latvia states:

“They in fact provide for legalizing same-sex relationships by equating them with legal marriage, which is protected by our country's basic law. This can be described as a hidden attempt to bypass the fundamental values protected in the Constitution and to weaken the significance of the institution of marriage. Therefore this is not acceptable to me, and in that form I cannot support it.” The President emphasizes that same-sex partnerships should not be connected with the institution of marriage. “No international human rights act provides for a state's obligation to legalize same-sex marriage. The Constitution firmly establishes the definition of marriage: the state protects and supports marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the family, and the rights of parents and children,” Zatlers points out, emphasizing that the family is one of the most important values and strengthening it is an essential precondition for the nation's development. Moreover, in Zatlers' opinion, these bills are discriminatory toward heterosexual couples, because they do not provide the possibility of registering similar partnerships between persons of both sexes who have a long-term and permanent shared life. “Although it is known that problems in property relations and inheritance rights or, for example, in possibilities to obtain information about one's partner's health condition in a medical institution also exist for heterosexual couples living in unregistered partnerships, or so-called civil marriage,” the president notes. He believes that there must be an argued discussion in society about same-sex partnerships, based on mutual respect, avoiding intolerance and observing both individual rights and society's traditions and values.

It has already been reported that on Wednesday, answering a journalist's question about the draft law on registration of same-sex partnerships, Zatlers replied that this issue must be discussed in society.

Photo: LETA