Top court rules Russia’s degrading same-sex marriage ban is a human rights violation

Europe’s top court has ruled that Russia’s ban on same-sex unions is a human rights violation and compelled the country to create a “legal framework” to acknowledge same-sex couples.

The ruling comes nearly a decade after three same-sex couples lodged complaints with the European Court of Human Rights. The couples all had their applications to be married rejected by their local registry offices in Russia.

The court ruled Tuesday (13 July) that Russia had an obligation under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights to “ensure respect for the applicants’ private and family life” by ensuring same-sex couples have their relationships “acknowledged and protected under domestic law”.

The court admitted Article 8 does not “explicitly impose” on Council of Europe members an “obligation to formally acknowledge” same-sex marriages.

However, it said there needed to be a “fair balance between the interests of same-sex couples and the community as a whole”.

“There was also a positive obligation to set up a legal framework guaranteeing the effective enjoyment of the rights enshrined in article 8,” the court said.

The European Court of Human Rights also rejected the government’s argument that the “majority of Russians disapprove of same-sex unions”. The government argued that “interests of the community as a whole” potentially justified the “lack of opportunity” for same-sex couples to legally recognise their relationships.

The court however said that “access to rights for a minority could not be dependent on the acceptance of the majority”. It added that giving same-sex couples formal acknowledgment of their relationship would not be in conflict with the “‘traditional understanding of marriage’ prevailing in Russia”.