On Monday, a new draft law on gender-neutral partnerships was registered at the Lithuanian parliament Seimas. However, the concept of “same-sex partnership” has been replaced by “civil union”.
Last spring, the Lithuanian parliament rejected the Partnership Bill, which proposed legalising both male-female and same-sex partnerships. Now, the governing majority is back with a new Civil Union Bill.
The new draft bill still uses the word “partners”. However, the relationship between them is no longer described as a “partnership” but as a “civil union”.
“A civil union is a voluntary agreement between two persons (partners), registered following the procedure laid down by legislation, by which they seek to establish, develop, and protect their relationship,” the draft reads.
The previous Partnership Bill proposed that partnerships be registered at civil registry offices. Meanwhile, the Civil Union draft foresees that they would be registered with a notary.
People with a registered civil union would not be allowed to marry or register a civil union with another person.
The Partnership Bill envisaged that partners could change their surnames, taking those of their partners. The Civil Union Bill drops this provision.
The new draft, like the previous Partnership Bill, does not provide for the possibility of adoption, recognition of paternity, or the exercise of parental authority.
Civil unions would be dissolved by mutual consent, when the partners get married, or one of them dies, according to the bill.
The new draft provides that property acquired during the period of a registered civil union by or on behalf of both partners is to be considered as jointly owned by the partners.
People wishing to register a civil union would have the right to sign a notarial agreement in which they determine their property rights and obligations during the civil union, as well as at the end of the civil union.
If approved, the law would give partners the right to inherit each other’s property, to represent each other in health care institutions, and to receive information about their partner’s health.
According to the representatives of the Freedom Party, which proposed to introduce gender-neutral partnership, the new bill is a result of a compromise.
“What is being presented today is the result of a compromise. A compromise that was made in consultation with both coalition partners and opposition representatives from different groups,” said Vytautas Mitalas, chair of the Freedom Party Political Group.
Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius, chair of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights, who initiated the Partnership Bill, said that he will not sign the Civil Union draft, which is “full of compromises”, but will vote for it nonetheless.
“I have always wanted more rights for couples, not more compromises,” Raskevičius said, adding that “such a solution is better than no solution”.
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