PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE LAW ON SAME-SEX PARTNERSHIPS IN SERBIA

Location: Center for Cultural Decontamination, Birčaninova 21, Belgrade
Time: Wednesday, December 4, 2024, at 7 PM

The first draft of the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships in Serbia was created in 2010 but was never reviewed. Over the years, there have been multiple attempts to introduce the law, including plans in 2013 and 2019. The goal was to provide certain social rights to same-sex couples, but none of the drafts were adopted.

Former Minister for Human and Minority Rights and Social Dialogue, Gordana Čomić, presented the law in 2021. President Aleksandar Vučić stated that he would veto the adoption of the law, citing claims of its unconstitutionality, as the highest legal act in Serbia defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Critics, including Belgrade Pride, dismissed these claims, emphasizing that the law does not regulate marriage but addresses individual issues such as health insurance, hospital and prison visitations, inheritance, and more. Although the final version of the law was completed in early 2022, political will to adopt it faltered due to the elections.

At the panel, we will discuss previous initiatives to pass the Law on Same-Sex Partnerships to shed light on the process and address the obstacles that have hindered its adoption. We will also examine the current status of the proposed law recently submitted to parliamentary procedure by the Green-Left Front. Finally, we will exchange opinions on the prospects for the law's adoption and explore potential actions to move it forward.

Participants:

1. Dr. Zorica Mršević – Lawyer, professor at the Faculty of European Legal and Political Studies, and retired scientific advisor at the Institute of Social Sciences
2. Aleksandra Gavrilović – Program Coordinator for Education at the Lesbian Human Rights Group LABRIS
3. **Dr. Jelena Jerinić **– Lawyer and MP of the Green-Left Front in the Serbian Parliament
4. Goran Miletić – Lawyer, Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa at Civil Rights Defenders

Moderator: Dušan Maljković, Coordinator of the Center for Queer Studies

The panel is organized by the Center for Queer Studies (querr.me) and the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Belgrade (rs.boell.org).