The prime minister of Kosovo promises that the bill will be submitted to the parliament in the near future, despite fierce opposition.
Kosovo may soon become the first Muslim-majority country in the world to allow same-sex partnerships to be registered.
The government of the country located in the Balkans is trying to bring a bill allowing civil weddings to the parliament for a vote. The exact schedule is not yet known, but the Prime Minister Albin Kurti said last month that a vote would be held soon.
Passage of the law would be a big step forward in the rights of sexual minorities. However, the breakthrough is not a given in the old Kosovo.
Also located on the Balkan Peninsula, Greece passed an equal marriage law earlier this year. Greece thus became the first Orthodox Christian country to allow same-sex ordinations.
Fierce opposition
In Kosovo, Prime Minister Kurti has received fierce opposition even from his own party’s MPs, among whom there are also old Muslims.
Among the opponents is, for example, the chairman of the Human Rights Committee of the Kosovo Parliament Duda Balje.
– We don’t want the pressure of a small community to override the opinion of the majority, Balje tells the news agency Reuters.
Kosovo’s constitution gives everyone the right to marry, but says that separate laws are needed to regulate marriages.
The Prime Minister’s bill is about civil marriages, and a separate law would be needed to allow same-sex marriages.
An MP from the main party LVV tells Reuters anonymously that Kurti is trying to get the opposition behind the bill by promising early elections. Currently, the next parliamentary election is scheduled for 2025.
“The state treats us as second-class citizens”
A representative of the CEL organization, which promotes the rights of sexual and gender minorities, says that the new law should solve all related questions at once.
– The state treats us as second-class citizens, the head of the organization Blert Morina tells Reuters.
Another concern is that the passage of the law change would not change hostile attitudes towards sexual minorities. This is what a theater director thinks Arlinda Morinawho says he will marry his partner if parliament votes in favor of the law.
– It will cause a lot of outcry and shake our country, but I don’t think it will change much the way we are treated, Morina tells Reuters.
– What does marriage change if people spit at you and bark at you in the streets?
Kosovo submitted an official application for EU membership in December 2022. However, the EU has not granted Kosovo official candidate country status, instead Kosovo is still classified as a potential candidate country.
Source: Reuters