Czech court annouce same-sex partnership adoption decision

The Network of European LGBTIQ Families Associations (NELFA) welcomes recent decision by the Czech Constitutional Court to extend the right to apply for adoption to individuals in same-sex registered partnerships.

The Court’s argumentation, following a lawsuit brought by a gay man in a registered partnership, stated that the previous ban was discriminatory because a gay man outside a registered partnership met the requirements to apply to adopt, but was denied the same possibility once he entered a partnership. However, according to the ruling registered partners will not be able to apply to adopt jointly.

Maria von Känel, President of the Board of NELFA, said: “The decision to lift the ban on adoption against individuals in same-sex registered partnerships is a just decision, and one that recognises what experts have been saying all this time, that a person’s sexual orientation is not a criterion of good parenting. The capacity to be a good parent is linked to a person’s ability to love and educate a child, as well as to a person’s reliability. The Czech authorities should go much further and allow registered partners to apply for adoption jointly; only then will all legal discrimination be erased”.

NELFA is the European platform of LGBTIQ families associations, bringing together LGBTI parents and parents-to-be from all over Europe. NELFA currently represents 27 organisations in 18 European countries with more than 25 500 members. NELFA is a member of ILGA-Europe and Transgender Europe.

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