Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said Thursday that the Lithuanian government will prepare legislation to legalise gender-neutral partnerships, following a Constitutional Court ruling that the Seimas, the parliament, must regulate such unions.
“The Ministry of Justice will definitely prepare some proposals,” Paluckas told reporters in Vilnius. “Whether there is political will in the Seimas to resolve the rights of a certain group, we will see.”
“The Ministry of Justice and the government will do their job,” he added.
Last week, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Seimas violated the Constitution by failing, for 24 years, to enact legislation enabling the Civil Code’s provisions on cohabitation without marriage. While the code defines partnerships as between a man and a woman, the court found this to be discriminatory against the LGBTQ community.
Until a new law is passed, the court said, unmarried couples – including same-sex couples – have the right to register their partnerships through the courts.
Two bills are currently under debate in the Seimas: the Civil Union Act and proposed amendments to the Civil Code introducing the concept of a “close relationship”. The latter is viewed as more conservative, as it does not explicitly link the relationship to romantic partnerships.
Paluckas stressed the importance of avoiding improvisation and seeking broad political consensus. “We need to find a version of rights implementation that causes the least friction and doesn’t provoke obstruction or further legal challenges,” he said.
The “close relationship” proposal, introduced by conservative MP Paulius Saudargas in the previous parliamentary term, has passed the initial presentation phase and requires two more votes to be adopted.
Meanwhile, the Civil Union Act – which explicitly defines mutual rights and responsibilities for partners, including loyalty, moral and financial support, inheritance rights, healthcare representation, and shared property – has advanced through committee review but lacks the votes for final approval.
Same-sex marriage recognition denied
Also on Thursday, former Environment Vice Minister Martynas Norbutas revealed that the Vilnius civil registry office had refused to register his marriage to his husband, which was legally performed in Belgium.
“Lithuania’s Civil Code requires that you report a marriage conducted abroad, but when you do, they cite the provision that a marriage must be between a man and a woman. That becomes the basis for rejection,” Norbutas told BNS news agency.
Norbutas said he and his husband are challenging the decision in court, citing a recent ruling by the European Court of Justice that Poland must recognise same-sex marriages registered abroad – a precedent he argues applies to Lithuania as well.
He warned that the rejection has both serious and absurd implications for the rights of same-sex couples and their children.
“The biggest irony is that since Lithuania refuses to recognise our marriage, I could legally marry a woman here and be married twice,” Norbutas said.
Prime Minister Paluckas acknowledged the issue. “Of course I see it as a problem,” he said. “These are Lithuanian citizens – a segment of our society that, because their rights are not being fulfilled, is essentially being pushed to the margins.”
Norbutas said he knows of at least one other same-sex Lithuanian couple, married in the Netherlands, who faced the same issue.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
