If we put aside emotional perception and abandon value judgments, then the situation with same-sex marriage in the Russian Federation cannot be called prosperous. In the absence of a direct ban on same-sex relationships and any gender self-identification, there is a noticeable restriction on the freedoms of speech and assembly. Discrimination takes on a clearly visible form.
Legal position
Supporters of liberal views are in favor of allowing the registration of such unions. Adherents of conservative and moderate positions insist on the immorality and inappropriateness of marriages between two men or two women. The prospect that such a union will be allowed from 2021 is perceived ambiguously.
Attempts at legalization have been initiated by Russian same-sex couples since 1922. Only in 2021, the European Court of Human Rights, in a case against Russia, issued a decision indicating that in certain situations, same-sex couples can and should enjoy rights under family law.
To date, an analysis of the RF IC allows us to conclude that a clear concept of marriage, which would indicate a ban on same-sex union, is not regulated. However, the corresponding conclusion is obvious from a number of articles:
- Article 1 contains an indication of compliance with the principle of voluntary union between a woman and a man;
- Article 12 lists the conditions for registering a marriage, one of which is the voluntary consent of the woman and the man;
- Article 14 contains a list of prohibited cases.
That is, the wording “between a man and a woman” serves as a basic legislative argument in registering same-sex marriages and recognizing the validity of such documents.
Same-sex marriage is not officially recognized in the Russian Federation. Considering that de facto marriage and other forms of family union are not provided for by law, a number of family and civil rights granted to spouses and close relatives are not available to unions between two women or two men.
This is interesting! According to statistics, in Russia the overwhelming majority of citizens are categorically against same-sex marriage. This trend has been intensifying since 1995, which demonstrates a contradiction with global trends.
What does tolerance lead to?
We should start with the fact that same-sex marriage is allowed in Russia, with only one exception. This can be done by British citizens who live in the Russian Federation or are visiting here. The ceremony can be held at the consulate of this country and nowhere else.
By the way, it is Great Britain, famous for its tolerance towards non-traditional relationships, that is now suffering from regular gay pride parades and rallies. The fact is that sexual minorities are not satisfied with simple permission to have a legal union; they need much more - universal recognition. They want to destroy the usual concept of marriage, distort it in their own way, creating a completely new society.
And a similar picture has become familiar to those countries where relations between homosexuals have been recognized as legal. You can find evidence of this in the news, TV shows and movies.
Registration abroad
The official website of the Moscow Civil Registration Authority contains information that re-registration of a marriage legalized abroad is not required. But as a general rule, such a marriage is recognized as valid if its conditions comply with the norms of domestic legislation.
However, a number of lawyers take the position that a marriage concluded in a foreign country with correctly executed documents and their notarized translations, as well as an apostille, serve as sufficient evidence to be presented to the MFC or directly to the registry office.
Information about all registered marriages is contained in a special Unified Register of Russia. They are entered after providing sufficient evidence of official registration. To date, not a single entry has been made regarding the registration of same-sex marriages. This serves as a comprehensive answer to the question of whether such relationship formats are allowed or not.
Important! At the time of the development and adoption of the Family Code, such an acute social problem had not acquired the scale it has today, which led to a number of conflicts. For example, Article 14 regulates the grounds on which marriage is not permitted. However, the norm does not contain a clear reference to a same-sex union. Moreover, it is this article that the legislator refers to regarding the legalization of marriages concluded abroad. This and many other examples provide a reason for same-sex families to defend their rights.
Where is gay marriage legalized?
At the moment, same-sex relationships can be legalized in more than 23 countries around the world. Also, other countries allow such marriages with some restrictions. They were first legalized in the Netherlands.
Many government officials, such as prime ministers, mayors, and in some cases even heads of state, openly declared their homosexuality, but at the same time maintained political authority.
Malta and Norway lead in terms of equality of rights regardless of a person's orientation. For example, Israel is considered one of the most conservative countries, and people of the same sex cannot marry there. But at the same time, a union formalized outside the territory of Israel is recognized as legal.
Many countries have come to legalize such unions through complex constitutional processes, and some through national polls. For example, Ukraine has recently been striving for a civilized solution to the legalization of same-sex marriage, but, as statistics show, the majority of the Ukrainian population is not ready for such equality.
Registration options
The law is imperfect, which gives rise to exceptions to the general rules. Today, same-sex partners use the following options:
- Registration abroad. The USA, Canada, Denmark, South Africa, Argentina allow Russian residents to register same-sex unions without the requirement to acquire citizenship of these countries. Despite the fact that in the domestic legal field the union is invalid, in another state it is a full-fledged marriage.
- Transgender unions. In 2014, a precedent took place in St. Petersburg. At the official registration, the two parties to be married stood in wedding dresses. De facto, a same-sex marriage was concluded. This became possible due to the presentation of passports of a man and a woman, while one of the “brides” was undergoing a hormonal course as part of a gender reassignment procedure. From a legal point of view, at the time of the actions of the registry office employees, an opposite-sex marriage took place.
Subsequently, there were repeated registrations of unions of transgender or androgynous people, who were visually partners of the same sex, but retained their previous documents. The competent authorities emphasize that the law allows such a union to be challenged after one of the parties changes its passport, and only in court.
Note! A number of international treaties establish priority for marriages registered in another state over local regulations. But Russia has not ratified such agreements.
The main argument against same-sex marriage
We can talk for a long time about all the pros and cons of a same-sex family, but there is one fact against which it is impossible to put forward a counterargument - children. It just so happens that to conceive a child you need both a female egg and a male sperm. Therefore, non-traditional couples are not able to continue their family line. Naturally, you can enlist the support of science and perform artificial insemination or pay a surrogate mother, but such couples are not capable of conceiving a child on their own.
Continuing the topic of children, we must not miss the fact that a child raised in such a family will have a distorted view of the order of things. For him, such relationships will be the usual norm, and not an exception to the rule. Therefore, there is a high probability that in the future he will want to repeat the experience of his parents and create his own same-sex family.
Foreign practice
In 1994, at the initiative of the UN, a conference was held, the outcome of which became an incentive for the active promotion of LGBT policies. To date, same-sex unions are allowed in more than 40 countries from North and South America and Western Europe.
Russian legislation is classified as relatively neutral along with China and Kazakhstan. Unlike, for example, countries such as Serbia and Poland, where there is a direct ban on such unions. Muslim countries are characterized by negative categoricalness. Arabia, Afghanistan, Iran practice the death penalty for any manifestations of same-sex unions.
In a number of countries, the civil partnership format is being actively lobbied for as a compromise option for resolving the dispute. This form of legalization of legal relations does not imply the status of marriage. It provides same-sex partners with a range of rights in the family and civil categories, similar in content to the rights of spouses. Many figures in Russia propose this option as an alternative to democratize legislation.
Despite discussions and contradictions, the issue of same-sex marriage is a pressing issue that requires regulatory regulation. A clear position will allow you to avoid many contradictions and inaccuracies generated by collisions. It is obvious that Russian society today is not ready to support equality and the permissibility of a union, so bold statements about the regulation of such marriages in 2021 are premature.
Legal status of same-sex couples
Same-sex marriages are not allowed to be officially registered, however, couples can live together in a civil marriage. But on the territory of Russia, the only form of recognition of a family of two unrelated people is marriage, while an unregistered marriage is not recognized by the laws of the Russian Federation.
The same restrictions also apply to same-sex couples in the Russian Federation.:
- Same-sex couples are prohibited from adopting a child, including the child of one of the partners.
- Couples are not provided with social support for young families, etc.
- The unofficial status does not allow the couple to regulate their property status and rights. Thus, a common-law husband or wife is not included in the circle of heirs by law, they do not have a share in jointly acquired property, etc.
- A couple does not have the right to apply for reproductive programs. Only a single woman can use the services of a biomaterial donor. Only an officially registered couple has the right to legitimize a child from a surrogate mother.
- Some non-property rights are also not available to civil couples. Thus, a common-law spouse will not be able to take the second’s surname; will not be able to receive information about the health status of the second spouse; will not be able to become the guardian of a partner who has received incapacity; does not have the right to dispose of the body and resolve the issue of burial, etc.
- Transgender individuals are prohibited from taking custody of children. Thus, in 2021, Russian authorities removed children from a family where the parents were considered to be of the same sex. This happened after the wife underwent breast removal surgery. Although in court the woman denied her desire to change gender through surgery, after moving to Spain and receiving political asylum there, she announced coming out as a transgender person.
Otherwise, the rights of same-sex couples in Russia are not infringed. They can resolve some issues through the signing of various agreements and treaties.
Raising children by persons in a same-sex union
The Family Code prohibits citizens in a same-sex marriage from accepting children left without parental care into their family. The grounds for refusal by the guardianship and trusteeship authorities are:
- availability of an official document confirming same-sex marriage;
- Since the legislation of the Russian Federation prohibits such unions, this form must be from a country that allows their registration.
The question remains open: how should a specialist in the guardianship department find out this information? If a citizen wants to adopt a child, and he knows about the legal prohibition, there is an opportunity to hide this fact. At the same time, it is almost impossible to prove the opposite.
States concluding same-sex marriages are not required to provide information about them to the Russian Federation. Therefore, identifying such a fact by the authorities involved in family placement of minors is difficult.
Thus, theoretically, one of the members of a same-sex couple can accept a child for further joint upbringing. Revealing that an adoptive parent has a homosexual relationship is not grounds for removing a minor from the family.
At the same time, as practice shows, the court of the Russian Federation will support a claim to terminate guardianship if the fact of raising a child by a homosexual couple is proven.
