The
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
has offered
registered partnership
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
s for same-sex couples since 1 July 2006. Registered partnerships grant several of the rights of
marriage
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...
, including inheritance, the right to declare a same-sex partner as
next of kin, hospital visitation rights, jail and prison visitation rights,
spousal privilege
In the common law, spousal privilege (also called marital privilege or husband-wife privilege) is a term used in the law of evidence to describe two separate privileges that apply to spouses: the spousal communications privilege and the spousal ...
, and
alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial sup ...
rights, but do not allow joint
adoption,
widow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.
Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has fulfilled the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and l ...
, or joint property rights. The registered partnership law was passed in March 2006 and went into effect on 1 July 2006. The country also grants unregistered
cohabitation
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not married, usually couples, live together. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become increas ...
status to "persons living in a common household" that gives couples inheritance and succession rights in housing.
Registered partnerships
There had been several attempts to allow same-sex
registered partnership
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, created primarily as a means to provide recognition in law for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage ...
s in the Czech Republic. In 1998, a partnership bill reached the
Chamber of Deputies, but was defeated by two votes. In 1999, the chamber voted against another bill. In February 2001, the
Zeman Cabinet presented a third bill, which was rejected by
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
in October 2001.
On 11 February 2005, another bill was defeated by one vote. It was backed by 82 out of the 165 deputies present, most voting in favour being
Social Democrats
Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...
,
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
,
Freedom Union members and some deputies from the opposition
Civic Democratic Party (ODS).
In April 2005, a partnership bill passed its first reading in the chamber with 82 votes for and 9 against. On 16 December 2005, it passed its third reading with 86 votes for, 54 against, and 7 abstentions. The legislation established registered partnerships ( cs, registrované partnerství, ) for same-sex couples, providing several of the rights of marriage, including
inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officia ...
, the right to declare a same-sex partner as
next of kin, hospital visitation rights, jail and prison visitation rights,
spousal privilege
In the common law, spousal privilege (also called marital privilege or husband-wife privilege) is a term used in the law of evidence to describe two separate privileges that apply to spouses: the spousal communications privilege and the spousal ...
and
alimony
Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial sup ...
rights, but not allowing joint
adoption rights, a
widow's pension
A widow's pension is a payment from the government of a country to a person whose spouse has died.
Generally, such payments are made to a widow whose late spouse has fulfilled the country's requirements, including contribution, cohabitation, and l ...
, or joint property rights.
The legislation was passed by the
Senate on 26 January 2006 in a 65–14 vote.
On 16 February 2006,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Václav Klaus
Václav Klaus (; born 19 June 1941) is a Czech economist and politician who served as the second president of the Czech Republic from 2003 to 2013. From July 1992 until the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in January 1993, he served as the second ...
vetoed the bill. In response,
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Jiří Paroubek said that he would seek a parliamentary majority (101 votes) in the lower chamber to override the veto and did so successfully on 15 March 2006 with the exact number of votes needed (101) out of 177 votes cast.
In September 2014, a group of deputies introduced a bill to permit stepchild adoption by registered partners. In October 2014, the
Sobotka Cabinet decided not to take an official stance on the bill. Instead, on 24 October 2016, it approved its own draft bill on the issue, and introduced it to Parliament on 8 November. The bill was not brought to a vote before the
2017 legislative election.
There are a number of differences between registered partnerships and marriage. Registered partners do not have the same rights to shared property as married couples, do not receive the same tax benefits, and do not have the right to a widow or widower's pension or adoption rights. Another major distinction is that registered partnerships can only be performed in the 14
regional
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
capitals, whereas marriages can be performed in over 1,200 registry offices throughout the country. This was noted in a July 2016 report by the Ombudsman office, which also stated that a dying person in a hospital cannot enter into a partnership because of these restrictions.
Statistics
By June 2009, 780 registered partnerships had been conducted in the Czech Republic. By the end of 2010, that number had increased to 1,110, 66 of which had been dissolved. A large majority of these partnerships involved two Czech citizens, though there were also several mixed couples with at least one partner from the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Most partnerships are registered in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
followed by
Central Bohemia
The Central Bohemian Region ( cz, Středočeský kraj, german: Mittelböhmische Region) is an administrative unit ( cz, kraj) of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in ...
and
South Moravia
The South Moravian Region ( cs, Jihomoravský kraj; , ; sk, Juhomoravský kraj) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the south-western part of its historical region of Moravia (an exception is Jobova Lhota which trad ...
. The regions with the fewest partnerships are
Zlín
Zlín (in 1949–1989 Gottwaldov; ; german: Zlin) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 73,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Zlín Region and it lies on the Dřevnice river. It is known as an industrial centre. The development of the ...
and
Vysočina.
From July 2006 to the end of 2019, 3,625 registered partnerships were performed in the country. During this same time period, 913 partnerships (25%) were dissolved, lower than the divorce rate between opposite-sex partners of about 50%. In 2018, 318 couples entered into registered partnerships, and for the first time the number of lesbian couples surpassed that of male couples.
Same-sex marriage
The
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
and the
Pirate Party expressed support for
same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
in their 2017 electoral programs. Following the
adoption of a same-sex marriage law by the German
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...
in June 2017,
Zbyněk Stanjura
Zbyněk Stanjura (born 15 February 1964) is a Czech politician who has been serving as Minister of Finance in Petr Fiala's Cabinet since 17 December 2021. He was previously appointed to Petr Nečas's Cabinet on 12 December 2012, serving as Minis ...
, a deputy from the
Civic Democratic Party (ODS), suggested that his party could agree to a free vote in
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
.
Before the
October 2017 election, activists started a campaign called "We Are Fair" ( cs, Jsme fér, ) to legalise same-sex marriage in the Czech Republic.
The campaign found that a majority of deputies from
ANO 2011
ANO 2011, often shortened to simply ANO ("Yes" in English), the initials meaning Action of Dissatisfied Citizens ( cs, Akce nespokojených občanů), is a populist political party in the Czech Republic. The party was founded by Andrej Babiš.
Hi ...
, the Pirate Party, the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
Fo ...
(ČSSD),
TOP 09
TOP 09 (name derived from cs, Tradice Odpovědnost Prosperita, lit=Tradition Responsibility Prosperity) is a liberal-conservative political party in the Czech Republic, led by Markéta Pekarová Adamová. TOP 09 holds 14 seats in the Chamber ...
, and the
Mayors and Independents
The Mayors and Independents ( cs, Starostové a nezávislí), abbreviated to STAN, is a liberal political party in the Czech Republic that is focused on localism and subsidiarity. The party grew out of four minor parties, including Independe ...
(STAN) supported same-sex marriage, while a minority of ODS,
Communist and
Christian Democratic MPs supported same-sex marriage, and no deputy from the
Freedom and Direct Democracy
Freedom and Direct Democracy ( cs, Svoboda a přímá demokracie, SPD) is a right-wing populist political party in the Czech Republic. It is led by Tomio Okamura and it holds 20 seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
It has been described as right-wi ...
(SPD) party was in favour.
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
Andrej Babiš expressed support for the legalisation of same-sex marriage.
On 12 June 2018, a bill to legalise same-sex marriage was introduced to the
Chamber of Deputies, sponsored by 46 deputies. Three days later, a group of 37 deputies proposed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the "union of a man and a woman" in the
Constitution of the Czech Republic
The Constitution of the Czech Republic ( cs, link=no, Ústava České republiky) is the supreme law of the Czech Republic. The current constitution was adopted by the Czech National Council on 16 December 1992. It entered into force on 1 Januar ...
, which would have required a two-thirds majority in the chamber. On 22 June 2018, the
Babiš Cabinet announced its support for the same-sex marriage bill. The "We Are Fair" campaign presented 70,350 signatures in support of same-sex marriage to the Chamber of Deputies in late June.
The first reading of the same-sex marriage bill was scheduled for 31 October, but was delayed to 14 November. As debate on both bills began, individual MPs spoke on both sides of the issue rather than split on party lines, indicative of a
conscience vote
A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamentary ...
. A vote was expected in January 2019, but was postponed to 26 March 2019, but then postponed again.
On 10 January 2019, President
Miloš Zeman
Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician serving as the third and current President of the Czech Republic since 2013. He previously served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Cze ...
stated that he might veto the same-sex marriage bill if it was passed by Parliament. Such a veto would force a second vote on the law, with the support of 101 deputies (50% + 1) required to override the presidential veto.
On 29 April 2021, a proposal to reject the bill at first reading failed, receiving 41 votes from the 93 deputies present, and the bill therefore progressed to the committee stage. However, it did not advance further before the
October 2021 election.
In June 2022, a cross-party marriage-equality bill was introduced to the Chamber of Deputies, giving same-sex couples the right to joint property, to inherit their partner's pension and access to alternative family care.
Several candidates in the 2023 presidential election support same-sex marriage and adoption rights, including Petr Pavel, Andrej Babis, and Danuše Nerudová.
Public opinion
A 2007 poll from CVVM (''Centrum pro výzkum veřejného mínění'', Center for Public Opinion Research) indicated that 36% of Czechs supported the legalisation of same-sex marriage, while 57% were opposed.
A May 2017 opinion poll by CVVM found a 52% majority in favour of legalising same-sex marriage, with 41% opposed.
A Median poll conducted in February 2018 (and published in April) found that 75% of Czechs supported the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry, while 19% were opposed. 13% believed that legalising same-sex marriage would threaten opposite-sex marriages, and 8% believed it would threaten them personally. Additionally, 61% of Czechs were in support of adoption by same-sex couples, while 31% were opposed.
A poll from January 2019, when a same-sex marriage bill was scheduled to undergo first reading in Parliament, indicated that 61% of Czechs supported same-sex marriage. Various Czech celebrities also expressed support, including tennis player
Martina Navratilova, singers
Bára Basiková and
Dara Rolins
Dara Rolins (born 7 December 1972) is a Slovak recording artist and entrepreneur. Her music career began at the age of nine, after being cast in the television musical ''Zázračný autobus'' (1981). The early role established a formula for he ...
, photographer
Robert Vano, actresses
Simona Stašová
Simona Stašová (born 19 March 1955) is a Czech stage, film and television actress. Since making her theatre debut in 1976, she has acted on stage in theatres and appeared in numerous films and television productions. Stašová has won multiple ...
and
Anna Geislerová, and politician
Ivan Bartoš
Ivan Bartoš (born 20 March 1980) is a Czech civil rights activist and a Czech Pirate Party politician, serving as the Minister of Regional Development and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitalization in the governing Cabinet of Petr Fiala since ...
.
According to a June 2019 survey conducted between 4–14 May 2019 by CVVM, 75% of respondents supported registered partnerships with 20% opposed, 47% supported same-sex marriage with 48% opposed, and 60% supported stepchild adoption with 31% opposed.
A Median poll published in January 2020 showed that 67% of Czechs supported same-sex marriage, and 62% supported joint adoption by same-sex couples. The survey found a large generational gap, with younger respondents overwhelmingly in support, but those aged 55 and above mostly opposed.
See also
*
LGBT rights in the Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is often considered the most progressive former Eastern Bloc country in regards to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. In 2006, it legalized registered partnerships (Czech: ''registrované partnerství'') f ...
*
Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
Recognition may refer to:
*Award, something given in recognition of an achievement
Machine learning
*Pattern recognition, a branch of machine learning which encompasses the meanings below
Biometric
* Recognition of human individuals, or biomet ...
References
External links
*
{{Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe
LGBT rights in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...