Representatives of LGBT community are not interested and do no want to have a right to marriage in Montenegro. As Danijel Kalezić, chair person of steering committee in Queer Montenegro has said to weekend edition of Dnevne Novine daily, they want the Law on Equal Partnership passed. This Law would recognize a union of two same-sex people and would enable them to enjoy certain cohabitation rights.
“Regional research that was done by NDI (National Democratic Institute), and that we will soon be co-publish, has shown that the general populace in Montenegro does not have issues with us acquiring those rights. These rights regard health insurance, asset allocation, and similar cohabitation rights. Montenegrin public does not support a right to marriage, but on principle, they do not have issues with us acquiring basic human rights”, Kalezić stated.
Same-sex union is not a marriage, nor is it a extramarital union, he explained.
“Marriage is protected by Constitution as a union of a man and a woman and we are not at all interested to breach into the institution of marriage. What we ask for is a law governing certain rights related to cohabitation”, Kalezić elaborated.
It is a special provision of law that would define a set of rights LGBTQ persons would have in relation to the person they recognize as a partner.
“For instance, right now the situation is such that if someone has a partner and they are living together, creating together, and something happens, for example, one partner dies – the other one is not able to inherit what they acquired together. Or, if one partner was to lose their job, the other partner could not offer them health insurance. Also, they could not inherit each others pensions. These are the rights we are talking about and not having them is simply discrimination” Kalezić elaborated.
He pointed out that there is already a ruling in European Court of Human Rights against Italy, that is binding to Montenegro as well, because it says that every member state of Council of Europe has to have laws regulating these issues. Although they had expected the Law on Equal Partnership to be done by 2016, Kalezić is not convinced that it would be done by the end of next year.
When will Montenegro pass this law no one can say for certain, but there is an agreement that the conversation should begin.
Halil Duković, representative from DPS, thinks that Montenegro made a big step forward when it comes to human rights and freedoms and that conversation about this law should have already started.
“I think we are more than ready to pass that law, because the situation during the last Pride has shown us that Montenegro has democratically matured on this issue”, Duković said.
A representative form SDP, Izet Bralić, agrees.
“I believe that Montenegro is ready to recognize the differences and that the awareness will grow until there are realistic conditions to pass the Law on Equal Partnership”, Bralić said.
Liberal Party considers the attitude of LGBT people on this matter completely justified.
“We have spoken about this before. Many progressive European states have these laws. I am afraid that this will move slower in Montenegro, seeing that this is a mostly conservative state and we would need a lot of patience until the awareness grows and people realize that this is a question of basic human rights”, Andrija Popović, leader of Liberal Party, said.
Independent representative Dritan Abazović pointed out that the third Pride pulled Montenegro into a second phase and that citizens seem to be less bothered by this matter, which is very good and positive.
“Is that enough to reach a next level in which we would define rights of minorities (sexual in this case) with laws, is another question. However, it seems to me that we are steadily moving in that direction. I am not the one to promote fast and poorly thought out moves, but I do support a steady approach, step by step, in getting to the European level. We need all citizens to have rights under the Constitution, and that is our end goal”, Abazović concluded.
