AUSTRIA: Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuit Filed On Behalf Of Five Children Of Gay Parents

Austria’s The Local reports:

Five Austrian children of same-sex parents are taking the government to court over Austria’s marriage laws, which don’t allow gay couples to marry. The children and their parents have taken their cases arguing for same-sex marriage to the Administrative Court in Vienna, and hope to change the law so that the children can become ‘legitimate’. Austria grants equal parenting rights to same-sex couples – including second-parent adoption, joint adoption and medically assisted conception – but not equal marriage rights. Campaigners from the Ehe Gleich group have set up a petition to lift the ban on same-sex couples and so far more than 45,000 people have signed it.

See the group’s website here. (Tipped by JMG reader Luis)

RELATED: The European Union currently has 28 members. Same-sex marriage is legal in twelve of them: Belgium, Denmark, Finland (effective 2017), France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia (effective date pending), Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland.) Civil unions are legal in eight EU nations: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus (effective date pending), the Czech Republic, Estonia (effective 2016), Germany, Hungary, and Malta. No partnership recognitions exist in eight EU nations: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Non-EU members Norway and Iceland legalized same-sex marriage in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Non-EU member Switzerland legalized registered partnerships in 2007.