By John Mack Freeman
There were mixed results for referendums in the last week that sought to expand same-sex union rights to European countries.
In Greece, the parliament voted 193 to 56 in favor of granting civil union rights to same-sex couples. This measure was strenuously opposed by the Orthodox Church. Via Advocate.com:
Greece is one of the last European Union states to legalize civil unions. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2012 that the country discriminated against same-sex couples by denying them tax, pension and inheritance rights.
On the other hand, though, Slovenian citizens voted to repeal that country’s marriage equality law that the legislature had enacted in March. Via CNN:
Just over 63% of voters in Sunday’s referendum rejected the bill redefining marriage as a union between two consenting adults, rather than expressly between a man and a woman.
There was a relatively low rate of participation, with just over 36% of eligible voters turning out, Slovenia’s Government Communication Office said.
The defeat of the bill, which would have established full legal equality between heterosexual and same-sex marriage, was seen as a victory for conservatives backed by the Catholic Church, the dominant religious group in the former Yugoslav republic of about 2 million people.