PM will ignore vote against gay marriage

Catholic leaders have warned Croatia’s centre-left Government to “respect the nation’s will” after it vowed to grant marriage-style rights to same-sex couples, despite the move’s rejection in a referendum.

One of the Church’s main concerns is that the proposed legislation would allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

“Abandoning the traditional roots of Croatian family law and uncritically adhering to European solutions shows an under-estimation of our own system … It will throw the door wide open to new relationships and the disintegration of traditional families,” said the Church’s Justice and Peace Commission, which accepted the case for “permanent civil unions … provided the rights of children were not endangered”.

The statement was issued as the Social Democrat-led Government of premier Zoran Milanovic pressed ahead with plans for a Civil Partnership Act. It said the Act was being pushed through “without serious public discussion” and risked creating “confusion between civil partnerships and marriages”. Meanwhile, Cardinal Josip Bozanic said the referendum should send an important message to the European Union, which Croatia joined on 1 July. “An overwhelming majority favour the protection of traditional marriage,” the cardinal told Italy’s Avvenire daily. “Although this was a victory for the people, it was not a victory against anyone – just a vote for marriage.”

Two-thirds of Croatians backed a constitutional amendment in the 1 December referendum, defining marriage as “the union between a man and a woman”, despite protests by gay rights groups in Zagreb and other cities. The result was dismissed as “superfluous” by President Ivo Josipovic, and as “sad and senseless” by premier Milanovic, who said it would not affect plans for the Civil Partnership Act.