Signed today the first cohabitation contract between a same-sex couple in Latvia, shortly after midnight, when the new law came into effect.
After signing the pact at a law office in Riga’s historic center, the couple – Maxims Ringo and Ganis Loks – exchanged silver rings at a party in the city’s central library and hope to get gold bands if and when Latvia legalizes gay marriage, Ringo said.
“We’ve been together for five and a half years… so for us, this is mostly practical,” Ringo emphasized, speaking, for example, of improving hospital visitation rights under the new law.
Homosexuality remains a controversial issue in Latvia, whose deputies in 2005 amended the Constitution to stipulate that marriage is only permitted between a man and a woman.
The Latvian parliament voted last November to officially legalize same-sex cohabitation after 46 same-sex couples went to court and won cases to be recognized as a family under the law.
This allowed couples to sign cohabitation agreements to be entitled to hospital visits, as well as to obtain certain tax and social benefits. However, they cannot adopt children and continue to face inheritance problems.
Only 5 EU countries have not introduced cohabitation agreements for same-sex couples
This change in Latvia means that there are now only five EU countries where people in same-sex relationships cannot sign cohabitation agreements: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
Latvia’s parliament elected President Edgars Rinkevics as the EU’s first openly gay head of state in May last year, despite 45% of Latvians saying in a 2019 Eurobarometer poll that they would feel uncomfortable having an official high-ranking gay or bisexual person.
Latvian gay rights activist Kaspars Zalitis said that many registry offices face queues of same-sex couples who want to register their relationship as quickly as possible.
Sources: AMPE, Reuters