What will LGBT+ people see in the election period that has just begun? Almost nothing, even "marriage without marriage" sounds like utopia
Will it be a marriage without a marriage?
The entire 42-page document contains a single sentence on queer people, in the section Justice: 'We will support the regulation of legal conditions for registered partners (e.g. in the Civil Code)'. This is a formulation that makes it clear that marriage for all is simply not going to happen. Otherwise, however, the sentence raises more questions because it can be interpreted in several ways. Does it mean, for example, that the coalition intends to bring the rights of same-sex couples up to the level of spouses, only their union will not bear the name of marriage?
This was a widely debated option during the last parliamentary term, when the House debated a proposal to introduce marriage for all and a proposal to restrict marriage strictly to a male-female couple. A number of politicians who did not want to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry were willing to grant them all the rights of marriage. "So the sentence in the coalition agreement could be interpreted to mean, for example, that the coalition parties would support extending civil partnerships to include ALL the rights and responsibilities that married people have. Including, and this is important, joint parental rights (adoption, joint adoption)," the We Are Fair initiative wrote in a statement on Facebook.
Which rights do gays and lesbians deserve and which ones no longer do?
But the sentence in the newly signed coalition agreement may have another interpretation. It would not be surprising if the coalition did not agree on an overall equalisation of the rights of same-sex and different-sex couples. In that case, it will probably start to selectively choose only what it allows gay and lesbian couples to do. For example, people in civil partnerships could be entitled to a widow's/widower's pension. The fact that registered people, unlike spouses, do not receive an allowance from the state after the death of their life partner has outraged the public and many politicians. Except that if LGBT+ people are only allowed to pick one piece of marital candy, it probably won't be a widow's/widower's pension. The We Are Fair initiative suggests that shared parental rights need to be resolved first and foremost. The unequal legal status of same-sex parents vis-à-vis their children affects not only gay and lesbian adults, but also their offspring, who have worse living conditions than other children growing up in the Czech Republic.
The proposal to scrap shared parental rights will definitely come up during the coalition's discussion on what registered partners can and cannot be allowed, the We Are Fair team fears. At the same time, it warns that "there will be an undignified and endless debate about which rights we will still be given and which we will no longer be given". That the coalition will go down this road was hinted at this week by KDU-ČSL chair Marian Jurečka in an interview with Respekt, when he said that he would negotiate with coalition partners to modify only "some parameters" of registered partnerships.
Zdroj: Giphy
It could have been worse
On the other hand, it is a success that some mention of marriage for all was included in the coalition agreement at all. There are indeed different views on marriage in the demoblock and the contentious points are removed from the picture in coalition negotiations. Recall how the ODS chairman Petr Fiala was quick to point out in his new book in September that no one can ask him to "believe that people of the same sex should create a marriage and family equal to the natural one". And the People's Party chief Marian Jurecka, in the fragile days just before the election, came out like an elephant in the china shop, declaring that approving marriage for all would mean letting the government fall. The same spirit continued after the elections, when Marek Benda, now the newly elected chairman of the Prague ODS, commented on Czech Television on the five-coalition that topics on which there is no consensus will not be addressed in this term of office - and he cited marriage for all as an example of such a topic.
TOP 09 chair Markéta Pekarová Adamová has undergone an evolution in her views and supports marriage for all, and her more open views have brought the Together coalition many votes from voters who are not sympathetic to the ODS and People's Party-style stubborn defense of patriarchal orders. But after the elections, Pekarová Adamová ends up in the seat of the head of the Chamber of Deputies instead of the government.
Let's stop dividing people into better and worse
The We Are Fair initiative is not backing down from the positions it has been advocating for four years. It continues to see making marriage available to same-sex couples as the only solution that will bring real equality to people and legal protection to children in rainbow families. Expanding civil partnerships will only continue to reinforce the division of people into two categories. Moreover, if civil partnerships are selectively extended some rights, Jsme Fair believes this will slam the door on real marriage for a long time to come.
The emerging ODS-dominated government will do nothing to bring the Czech Republic into line with Western democracies that already allow same-sex couples to marry. We can therefore only hope that, as in the last parliamentary term, some members of the Chamber of Deputies will come forward with a bill on marriage for all. However, the point is to get the proposal on the agenda. The last House of Commons went an incredible three years without any interest in the "sour".
For example, you can find the full coalition agreement here.
