movement rights?
ANNEX 1 - A SELECTION OF REAL CASES ILLUSTRATING THE OBSTACLES FACED BY RAINBOW FAMILIES
Petition No. 0513/2016 by Eleni Maravelia (Greek) on the non-recognition of LGBT families in the European Union (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner believes that LGBT families do not have the same rights across the European Union. She explains that she is married to a British lady and gave birth to a daughter in Spain in 2014. The Spanish birth certificate of her daughter indicates both her and her partner as mothers.
Yet, outside of Spain they are not considered as family, as their daughter has only one parent. In the UK, where they applied for a British passport they were told that under UK family law, the petitioner’s married partner is not recognised as the mother and consequently, if they ever decided to move to the UK, the petitioner’s married partner would have to adopt her own daughter. In Greece they were also told that only the birth mother is recognised as the parent, since there are no provisions in the Greek law for similar families. For the above reasons, for a long time the petitioner’s daughter did not have a passport and the family was unable to travel. The petitioner believes that families like hers are being refused their right to free movement and their children are vulnerable, since their parents are not equally recognised across the EU. The petitioner urges that the EP and the Commission work towards making official civil status documents, such as birth certificates, to be accepted de facto across the Member States. She believes that the children of parents in similar situation deserve the same rights as all the children, with both their parents recognised.’
Petition No. 1493/2016 by Javier Diez (Spanish) on surrogacy and the relevant legal framework (declared inadmissible)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner explains that surrogate pregnancy is still unregulated in most Member States and that parents returning to the EU with their children are unable to have their newborns recorded in civil registers. These irregularities are in flagrant breach of Article 7(1) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The petitioner calls on the European Union to take urgent steps to address the issue at hand, and to require Member States to recognise and register all children born through surrogacy abroad, ensuring that their legal relationships are upheld and without forcing them to change their name and family when crossing from one country into another, and to grant parents all the maternity and/or paternity rights and benefits to which they are entitled (irrespective of civil status, gender or sexual orientation) in a bid to ensure optimum care for minors and improve work-life balance.’
Petition No. 0973/2018 by Adolfo Pablo Lapi (Italian) on discrimination against homosexual and LGBTI couples in Europe (closed)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner complains about the discrimination suffered by homosexual and LGBTI couples in certain European countries, in particular those with predominantly Catholic and Orthodox populations. He refers to a gap between northern Europe, which is rich and respects human rights, and southern Europe, which is poor and sometimes homophobic. According to the petitioner, the failure to respect sexual minorities makes societies selfish and devoids them of love and respect.
The petitioner trusts in the legislator’s goodwill.’
Petition No. 0402/2020 by Frank Bartz (German) on the fundamental rights of LGBT-EU citizens and their different treatment in different Member States (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner points out that homosexual couples are still being treated differently in different Member States and remain at a disadvantage compared with heterosexual couples, notwithstanding the guarantees of equality embodied in the Treaties and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Despite the protection afforded to marriages and families, same-sex bi-national couples find it harder, for example, to obtain recognition of marriage certificates in another
Member State. Member States are also adopting laws effectively invalidating the fundamental rights enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. The petitioner indicates that the German authorities are refusing to recognise his marriage to a Dutch national, which took place in 2011, issue his partner with a passport or grant him the right to vote, unless he renounces certain rights, effectively leaving him stateless. Moreover, unlike a heterosexual man, he is not entitled to seek redress before the courts. The petitioner is accordingly seeking the adoption of a European law containing uniform definitions of concepts such as gender and marriage, coupled with the recognition of LGTB minority rights.’
Petition 0657/2020 by Catalina Pallàs Picó (Spanish), on behalf of the Association of LGBTI Families of Catalonia, on the right of free movement for LGBTI families in the EU (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner believes that LGBT families do not have the right to free movement within the EU. She considers that Spanish LGBT families, whose family ties are established in law, would not be recognised as such if they were to move to another EU Member State without national laws recognising LGBT persons and their children. The refusal of a host Member State to legally recognise the family ties of an LGBT family could restrict freedom of movement in two ways: denial of family reunification rights and denial of a series of rights (such as social and tax benefits), to which the family would have been entitled if the legal ties between its members had been recognised. She calls for LGBT families to be ensured fair treatment and for their rights to be guaranteed even in Member States that do not have national laws in place covering LGBT families.’
Petition 0712/2020 by R.A.P. (Spanish) on the fundamental rights of rainbow families and free movement within the EU (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner deplores that LGBT families do not have the same rights across the European Union. The petitioner is married to a Polish same-sex partner and they have two children, born by surrogacy in the US in 2016 and 2018. The Spanish birth certificates of their children indicate both partners as parents. Yet, in other Member States, they are not considered as a family, and their children can only have one parent. In Poland, they cannot apply for Polish passports for their children because, under Polish family law, the petitioner’s married partner is not recognized as the other parent and, consequently, if they ever decided to move to Poland, their family would not be recognized. The petitioner claims that families in this situation are being denied their right to free movement and that their children are vulnerable, since their parents are not equally recognised across the EU. The petitioner urges the EP and the Commission to work towards the de facto recognition of official civil status documents, such as birth certificates, across all Member States. The petitioner believes that the children of parents in similar situations deserve the same rights as all other children, with both of their parents being recognized.’
Petition 1038/2020 by Björn Sieverding (German), on behalf of the Network of European LGBTIQ* Families Associations, signed by one other person, on the mutual recognition of legal guardians in LGBTIQ families in the EU (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner, together with another representative of an LGBT organisation, has taken up the case of a Danish mother of a five-year-old child. The petitioner states that the Danish woman married the biological mother, a Bulgarian woman, in Denmark, but has since divorced. The boy has Danish and Bulgarian nationality and both have custody under Danish law. The biological mother took the boy with her to Bulgaria, where the Bulgarian courts ruled out ‘joint motherhood’ on the grounds that there was no provision for such an arrangement in law. The Danish mother was neither invited to nor represented at those proceedings. Her right to custody of the child was not recognised and she was not granted visiting rights. The Danish courts have also declared that they do not have jurisdiction because it is a cross-border matter. The petitioner regards this case as an infringement of the free movement of persons and a flagrant violation of fundamental rights’.
Petition 1179/2020 by Dan Sobovitz (Hungarian) bearing 2 signatures, on the protection of the right of rainbow families to free movement within the EU (open)
Petition Summary: ‘The petitioner and his partner, who currently reside in Germany, are the fathers of two children. They deplore that same-sex parented families do not have the same rights across the European Union. In their opinion, the lack of common rules across the EU violates their rights to move and reside freely within the territory of the EU Member States, to respect for private and family life, to be protected from discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation as well as their children’s right to be protected from discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation by association with their gay parents. The petitioners, therefore, call on the European Parliament and the European Commission to put forward proposals for EU legislation aimed at providing concrete solutions for rainbow families and at avoiding that same-sex parents and their children live the current legal void’.