Court: Russia does not recognize same-sex couples Boris Pistorius becomes new German defense minister

The European Court of Human Rights has condemned Russia for discriminating against lesbian and gay couples.

According to the European Convention on Human Rights, states should somehow legally recognize same-sex couples. However, Russia refuses to do so, the highest instance of the court, the Grand Chamber, ruled on Tuesday in Strasbourg.

The plaintiffs – three same-sex couples – wanted to marry in Russia, but the authorities refused the marriage because Russian law defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The government had argued that the majority of Russians rejected homosexuality. The Court disagreed: democracy does not mean that majority opinion always prevails, but that a balance must be struck.

Russia was expelled from the Council of Europe a few months ago because of the aggressive war against Ukraine and is therefore no longer a party to the European Convention on Human Rights, which the Court supervises. The Council of Europe, the Convention on Human Rights and the Court of Justice are independent from the European Union.

Several thousand lawsuits against Russia are still pending at the Human Rights Court. All of them have been submitted until Russia was formally excluded and must therefore be examined by the court. Under the Human Rights Treaty, Russia remains contractually obligated to implement the judgments of these remaining court cases. However, Russia has already announced that it will not recognize judgments of the Court of Human Rights. (aeg/sda/dpa)