Romania moves closer to ruling out possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage

Jul 21, 2016 by Jill

from Reuters:

Romania moved a step closer to ruling out the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriage on Wednesday when its top court paved the way for a referendum on defining marriage in the constitution as a union strictly between a man and a woman.

The nine judges on the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that a proposal signed by 3 million Romanians this year to change the constitution’s definition of marriage was valid.

Under Romanian law, the constitution can be changed after a proposal by the president, the government, a quarter of the members of parliament or at least 500,000 citizens. Parliament must approve the revision, which must then pass a nationwide referendum.

Few politicians openly support same sex marriage in the socially conservative eastern European nation of 20 million, where the Orthodox Church holds considerable sway.

Currently, the constitution says family starts “on the basis of freely consenting marriage between spouses”.

The Coalition for the Family, a civic initiative, gathered 3 million signatures earlier this year in favor of replacing “spouses” with “a man and a woman”. It said only men and women can naturally start a family and raise children.

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