STRASBOURG, FRANCE – The European Court of Human Rights ruled last week that its member states are not required to grant access to marriage to same-sex couples.
The judges were deciding upon the case of two gay women who are registered in France under a civil partnership. The couple argued that their status prevents them from adopting a child as a couple.
The women, Valerie Gas and Nathalie Dubois, were asking the court to establish their marriage rights under European anti-discrimination laws.
Among other rights the women were petitioning for Gas to be allowed to adopt Dubois’s 11 year-old daughter.
But the judges said there had been no discrimination. “The European Convention on Human Rights does not require member states’ governments to grant same-sex couples access to marriage,” the court ruled.
“With regard to married couples, the court considers that in view of the social, personal, and legal consequences of marriage, the applicants’ legal situation could not be said to be comparable to that of married couples,” they added.
But the judges noted the importance of parity in all instances: “Where national legislation recognizes registered partnerships between samesex, member states should aim to ensure that their legal status and their rights and obligations are equivalent to those of heterosexual couples in a similar situation.”
