Slovak same-sex couple challenges marriage refusal

Slovakian lawyers Ivan Novotny and Metod Spacek are challenging Slovakia's refusal to register their same-sex marriage, saying the decision breaches a European Union court ruling.

Novotny, 31, and Spacek, 51, married in Austria in 2020. They filed a lawsuit last month against the civil registry after receiving an August refusal signed by Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok. No hearing date has been set.

The couple say Prime Minister Robert Fico's government is violating a Court of Justice of the European Union ruling that all EU members must recognise a same-sex marriage recorded in another EU state.

Fico said in June that registration of same-sex marriages was not possible because it was “non-existent under Slovak law”. His government has tightened LGBTQ rights and says national law takes precedence over EU law.

Slovakia's constitution defines marriage as “a union between man and woman”. A later amendment says Slovakia recognises only two sexes, male and female, and says the country's “sovereignty” on “cultural and ethical questions” should override EU law. Brussels launched legal action against Slovakia last November over the changes.

Public support for equal rights in Slovakia stands at 35%, according to the latest Eurobarometer on Discrimination in the European Union. In 2022, two men were shot dead in front of a Bratislava gay bar by the son of a prominent member of an extreme-right party.

Martin Macko, executive director of LGBTQ rights group Inakost Initiative, said other couples were considering legal action, including at the European Court of Human Rights.