The legal situation in Kosovo is really weird. The country doesn’t allow same-sex marriage even if its constitution recognizes that “on the basis of free consent, everyone enjoys the right to marry and the right to create a family in accordance with the law”.
But there’s a new draft civil code in circulation that might officially recognize same-sex civil partnerships.
Religious leaders are furious
Photo: BIRN/Denis Sllovinja
After meeting last week, Muslim leader Grand Mufti Naim Ternava, Catholic Bishop Dode Gjergji, Evangelical Church leader Femi Cakolli, and Jewish Community head Votim Demiri have signed a joint statement against the draft civil code.
The Serbian Orthodox Church did not sign this petition.
They thus state that “the religious communities remain united when it comes to the protection and daily promotion of family values, pro-life values, the traditional values of marriage, the right of the fetus from conception to birth, and the natural right of gender as a predetermination for each citizen.”
MPs seem to approve of the pro-LGBTQ+ amendment for same-sex couples
The amendment in the new Kosovo Civil Code, which would open up civil unions for same-sex couples, has provoked a strong reaction among faith groups, but most MPs seem to approve this pro-LGBTQ+ amendment.
“I believe that in the civil code this issue will be regulated by law,” the head of Vetevendosje, the ruling party’s parliamentary group, Mimoza Kusari Lila, said.
“As a parliamentary group, we support them,” the leader of the parliamentary group of the opposition, Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, Besnik Tahiri, also said.
