Latvia - November 2023

In a final reading, the Parliament adopted legislation to recognise same-sex partnerships for the first time. The legislation allows partners to visit each other in hospital, to provide consent for each other’s medical treatment, and expands access to social security and tax benefits for same-sex couples. Civil society noted that there is more work to be done, since the changes do not include the right to adopt children or for partners to inherit from each other. The legislation, submitted by the Ministry of Justice, follows a Constitutional Court ruling in 2020 which found that the state must provide legal protections to same-sex partners. According to the amendments, same-sex couples will be able to register partnerships from 1 July 2024. However, opposition parties have resisted the changes, and have set out to halt the legislation and collect the 154,241 signatures (representing 10 per cent of Latvia’s electorate) required to put it to a referendum.

Sources: Saeima (1), Saeima (2), Saeima (3), Politico, PinkNews, LSM (1), LSM (2), LSM (3), LSM (4)