NEW
YORK, July 25 (C-FAM) The highest human rights court in Europe
shattered hopes that it would judicially impose same-sex marriage
when it told a male to female transsexual and his wife that a civil
union should be good enough for them.
European
human rights law does not require countries to “grant access to
marriage to same-sex couples,” according to a judgment of the
European Court of Human Rights in a case that tests the remote
boundaries of possibility in law and fact.
The
parties to the litigation and supporters of same-sex marriage
acknowledge the result was predictable. Nevertheless the judgment has
a devastating effect on gay rights in Europe, dashing hopes that
same-sex “marriage” can become a reality there. The facts of the
case are distinctive.
Heli
Hämäläinen of Finland had a sex change operation in 2009 to appear
anatomically as a woman, despite having fathered a child with his
wife of over 10 years in 2002. Before the operation, he tried to
change his legal identity from male to female without success.
He
sued before the European court when he was told that it would not be
possible so long as he remained married, because Finland does not
allow persons of the same sex to marry each other. Hämäläinen and
his spouse insist that their religious beliefs prevent them from
seeking a divorce and that civil unions do not give them the same
benefits as marriage in Finnish law.
The
European court was unequivocal. It not only said that European human
rights law does not contemplate same-sex marriage, it said that civil
unions are good enough for same-sex couples.
The
court confirmed that the protection of the traditional institution of
marriage is a valid state interest—implicitly endorsing the view
that relations between persons of the same sex are not identical to
marriage between a man and a woman, and may be treated differently in
law.
Read
more by clicking below:
European Court: Gay Marriage is not a Human Right
