Gay in slovakia
Slovakia gay rights vote fails to produce a result
A nationwide referendum on restricting gay rights in Slovakia has failed to generate a legally binding outcome after the required number of eligible voters did not turn out.
In Saturday’s vote, Slovaks were asked whether they agree to three points: that marriage can only be called a union between a man and a woman; that same-sex partners must be barred from adopting children; and that it’s up to parents to decide whether their children receive sex education.
The vote was forced by the Alliance for Family, a social conservative group that received massive support from the Catholic Church.
With all the votes tallied adv on Sunday by the country’s statistics office, voters in the predominantly Catholic country overwhelmingly voted “yes” – 95, 92 and 90 percent respectively to the three questions.
But turnout reached only 21.4 percent, far less than the 50 percent needed.
A chief of the alliance, Anton Chromik, said he was delighted that a obvious majority of the voters who participated in the ballot supported the alliance and called it “a good base” for its further activities.
Romana Schlesinger, an LGBT activist, said she ho
Slovakia
Entity queer in Slovakia? A nightmareSlovak queer people barely enjoy any rights in their homeland. In the still strongly catholic country, there are no officially approved partnerships for people with same-sex orientation. On the contrary, marriage is anchored in the constitution as a distinct bond between a guy and a woman. Almost 63% of Slovaks are currently against expanding rights for the LGBTQI+ group, and Slovakia has now ranked last in various European rankings of LGBTQI+ acceptance for several years in a row. The anti-LGBTQI+ and anti-gender narratives of top Slovak politicians and the Catholic Church, which still enjoys superb influence in the nation today, are contributing to this.
How "anti-LGBTQI+" has become a „trend"
The Slovak Republic, which only emerged as an independent democratic state in 1993 after the division of Czechoslovakia, was for a long time mainly preoccupied with the tasks of social, political and economic transformation, which continued even after ist accession to the EU in 2004. While the first equality measures for the gender non-conforming community were already creature ta
Slovakia holds referendum on lgbtq+ marriage
For decades, homosexuality was a taboo topic in Slovakia. It has only entered public discourse in the last 10 years. The country, which joined the EU in 2004, has an anti-discrimination law that protects lesbians and gay men. But neither same-sex marriage nor registered partnerships exist. Homosexuals are also not permitted to adopt children. Since the summer of 2014, marriage has been defined in the Slovak constitution exclusively as the union of a man and a woman.
Most happy with the status quo
But the organizers of Saturday's referendum (07.02.2015) felt this didn't go far enough. They want to guarantee that everything remains as it is. The church-backed "Alliance for the Family" (AZR) hopes the vote will counteract the pressure some Western European countries are allegedly putting on Bratislava to extend marriage rights to gays. They want to take a "preventive" step to halt homosexual partnerships gaining parity with heterosexual marriage - as they have in Denmark and the Netherlands.
The AZR has said it's a matter of protecting the traditional family: mother, father and children. The group says it's focused on the intere
Slovak terror: A nation hijacked by homophobia and transphobia
Slovakia against LGBT+ people
Within the EU, Slovakia ranks among the least accepting societies towards non-heterosexual and trans people. According to Eurobarometer, only 31% of respondents think that same-sex attracted, lesbian and bisexual people should have the alike rights as the heterosexual majority, and only 25% think that trans people should be able to change their official documents to match their gender identity. Public displays of affection by non-heterosexual couples, including something as trivial as holding hands, are socially unacceptable in Slovakia and often serve as a pretext for violence.
Queer people in Slovakia assemble obstacles in every area and at every stage of their lives. A nation-wide LGBT+ survey conducted last year by the non-profit Iniciatíva Inakosť [Difference Initiative] has shown that LGBT+ people most often feel unsafe in the streets and in other public places and that they suffer humiliation and marginalization from a very early age. The respondents ranked creating “programs aimed at preventing and addressing homophobic and transphobic bullying in every school” as one of their uppermost prioriti
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