Further improvements in family law in Denmark

As of January 1, 2015 adoption by couples in Denmark does no longer require marriage. This is a general revision of the Adoption Act. It is of particular interest to rainbow families who become pregnant by means of home insemination, i.e. not under the responsibility of a health person. In that case, if the same-sex

Republic of Ireland: gay adoption law due before same-sex marriage referendum

Government pledges to enact legislation on adoption rights ahead of vote.   The Government has pledged that legislation providing for adoption by gay couples will be enacted before the referendum on same-sex marriage in May. The pledge came in the wake of concern in both Coalition parties that the first television debate on the issue on Monday

Italian court allows a child to be legally adopted by same-sex couple

For the first time in Italian history, a court has granted permission for the adoption of a child living with a same-sex couple. The child is the biological daughter of one of the women, and her partner has been allowed to legally become her co-parent through adoption. The couple have been living together in Rome since

Candidates to Lithuanian Presidency express their views on LGBT* issues.

On April 24, LRT (National Lithuanian Radio and Television Network) invited presidential candidates to participate in a discussion regarding important social issues. President Dalia Grybauskaite was busy with her schedule and could not attend, but the other candidates- Zigmantas Balcytis, Arturas Paulauskas, Naglis Puteikis, Bronis Rope, Valdemaras Tomasevskis and Arturas Zuokas- shared their opinions about

Malta legalizes same-sex partnerships and adoption

The Maltese parliament approved a law late on Monday to recognise same-sex partnerships on a legal par with marriage, including allowing gay couples to adopt. The law was greeted by wild celebrations by some 1,000 people in a square just outside parliament in Valletta, the capital of the predominantly Roman Catholic Mediterranean island where divorce

MP Gražulis proposes to forbid adoption for same sex couples

The chair of the Seimas group of Order and Justice Party in Lithuania Petras Gražulis proposed to forbid adoption for couples of the same sex, The Baltic Course reports, with reference to the news agency ELTA. MP Gražulis registered a draft amendment to the Children’s Rights Protection Law. According to the draft law, “it is forbidden for

First Same-Sex Couple Adopts in France

Married in June, One Adopts the Other’s Children Last May, France became the fourteenth country to legalize gay marriage and gay adoption. (Other European Nations that allow gay adoption include Belgiium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Britain). Many Parisiens, particularly rural Catholics, did not cotton to the law that was