Opposition lawmakers oblige Latvia’s president to suspend civil partnership law
Constitution requires openly gay president to suspend gender-neutral partnership law
Latvia’s President Edgars Rinkēvičs, acting in accordance with his constitutional duties, on November 13 suspended for two months the proclamation of changes in the law that would allow notaries in the Baltic country to register civil partnerships between same-sex couples.
Rinkēvičs was obliged to act after 34 members of the Latvian parliament or Saeima submitted a request that he suspend the key part of the package of laws allowing gender-neutral civil partnership pending a signature campaign to call for a referendum on the issue.
The key change – allowing notaries to register any two adults in Latvia as civil partners, passed on November 9 by a vote of 53 to 43 in the 100-member parliament. Other related changes in laws relating to health care, tax, pension, and conflict of interest laws as applied to civil partners were also passed by small majorities.
Opponents of the civil partnership law said it would undermine the traditional family, stand as an affront to “traditional values” and act as a first step toward same-sex marriage.
Representatives of the populist opposition Latvia First party (LPV) had some of the harshest words for the civil partnership law. LPV lawmaker Ramona Petrāviča said the next step after same sex civil partnership would be “bearded men in wedding dresses.”
Ainārs Šlesers, leader of the LPV faction in the Saeima and a founder of the LPV said the civil partnership law “legitimizes same-sex relations”. The way he put it, sounded like a dog whistle from criminalizing homosexuality again. Criminal penalties for homosexual relations were abolished soon after Latvia regained its independence in 1991.
LPV leader Ainars Šlesers in a “Dismiss the Saeima” sweatshirt at the Lampa public discussion event last summer. Photo: Juris Kaža
The request to Rinkēvičs was signed by lawmakers from opposition parties, including the conservative-centrist United List (AS) , the nationalist National Alliance (NA) who were both in government before the government reshuffle in September brought the social democratic Progressives (Pro) and the centrist Greens and Farmers’ Alliance (ZZS) into a new coalition under Prime Minister Evika Siliņa of the centrist-liberal New Unity (JV).
One point of vulnerability for the coalition is that ZZS is still seen as influenced by Aivars Lembergs, the former mayor of the port city of Ventspils, who is serving a prison sentence for corruption and money-laundering (his conviction was recently affirmed on appeal).
Before government reshuffle, both JV and Pro expressed extreme reluctance to have anything to do with ZZS because of the “Lembergs factor”. The party kept him as their Prime Minister candidate in the 2022 elections even after he was convicted.
Another irony in this situation is that under the Latvian constitution, the President must suspend promulgation of any law when requested by the required number of Saeima deputies, regardless of what he/she may think. Rinkēvičs was elected by the Saeima at the end of May as Latvia’s first openly gay head of state.
As things now look, it may be difficult to get the necessary 155 000 voter signatures for a referendum on the civil partnership law – people can only sign in person at designated sites around the country run by Latvia’s Central Elections Commission, probably at a cost of around EUR 1 million. One month is allowed for signature gathering.
The second ongoing referendum – also initiated by Šlesers – is for the dismissal of the Saeima and new elections. There signatures can be gathered electronically or in person, and in the first days of the signature campaign, more than 15 000 persons had signed.