PRAGUE (Reuters) – The Czech parliament’s lower house gave initial approval on Thursday to a bill to allow same-sex marriages, though conservative lawmakers signalled it could still face opposition and possible changes in further debates.
Same-sex marriage is legal in much of western Europe, but not in large parts of the centre of the continent once under communist rule.
The Czech Republic, an EU member for almost two decades, currently allows registered partnerships for same-sex couples – a status that does not let them jointly adopt children, jointly own property or receive widow or widower’s pensions.
“It seems undignified,” house speaker Marketa Pekarova-Adamova, a member of the junior ruling party TOP09′ and a sponsor of the bill, said in the debate.
“They have to pay the same taxes as heterosexual people or couples, must deal with the same things just like us… but we have a special law for them.”
She acknowledged there was opposition to the bill and said some parts of it were still up for debate.
More conservative lawmakers seeking to reject the bill at its first reading failed in a 58-68 vote. It will now go on to debate in committees – where amendments can be proposed and considered – before returning for a final vote.
After that it would have to go through the Senate upper house before going on to the president, who has signalled his support.
Jiri Navratil, a gay Christian Democrat lawmaker from the ruling coalition, said he was in favour of granting more rights and his party supported same-sex couples.
“But for us, the uncrossable line is the name, meaning marriage, that we consider an institution concluded between a man and woman,” he told Czech Radio in an interview this month.
A May opinion poll from the CVVM agency showed 58% of Czechs believed same-sex couples should have the right to marry, and more agreed with allowing couples to adopt.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
