The European Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that same-sex parents and children must be legally recognized as family in all member states.
The ruling determined children have a legal guarantee of free movement between countries, a key right for European Union citizens. The right was used as the basis for the new requirement that all member nations must acknowledge the family relationship, rather than allowing individual nations the right to the decision.
The case involved Bulgarian authorities who would not legally provide an infant daughter of a same-sex couple a birth certificate, claiming the child was ineligible to have two mothers.
“The court noted that in Bulgaria, where there is no same-sex marriage, the birth certificate has one box for ‘mother’ and another for “father” where only one name may appear. The Bulgarian mother of the child objected,” the Associated Press reported.
“That refusal could make it more difficult for a Bulgarian identity document to be issued and, therefore, hinder the child’s exercise of the right of free movement and thus full enjoyment of her rights as a Union citizen,” the ruling stated.
European LGBT rights group ILGA-Europe celebrated the court’s decision.
“We welcome the judgement of European Court that a child and its same-sex parents must be recognised as a family, the child should be issued a Bulgarian passport, & the family should have free movement in all Member States of the European Union,” the statement said on Twitter.
We welcome the judgement of European Court that a child and its same-sex parents must be recognised as a family, the child should be issued a Bulgarian passport, & the family should have free movement in all Member States of the European Union #parentswithoutborders
— ILGA-Europe (@ILGAEurope) December 14, 2021
The ruling applies to all 27 members of the European Union. Only 16 member nations have legalized same-sex marriage.
Most of the E.U. nations that do not have a legal policy for same-sex marriage or civil unions are found in Eastern Europe.
“Same-sex marriage is now legal across the vast majority of Western Europe. One prominent exception is Italy, which has historical ties to the Roman Catholic Church. In spite of these ties, Italy began recognizing same-sex civil unions in 2016. Switzerland also offers same-sex couples the option of civil unions, but not full marriage,” Pew Research noted.
As The Daily Wire previously reported in September, LGBTQ issues remain controversial among many in European Union nations:
The European Union is threatening to hold back millions of euros —$150 million — in cohesion funding to local areas in Poland due to their declarations and stances against LGBTQ ideology.
As Bloomberg reported, “The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, sent letters to the governors of the provinces last week warning that if the resolutions weren’t rescinded the money would be withheld, according to Polish media reports and confirmed by an official with knowledge of the situation.”
“The frozen funds are from the bloc’s React-EU program, which was launched after the coronavirus pandemic to aid recovery efforts. The country’s full allocation is more than 1.5 billion euros,” the outlet explained.
Several areas and towns in Poland have said that they are “free of LGBTQ ideology” in order to reportedly push back on allowing events like pride parades from occurring in their areas.