Recognition of same-sex unions in Lithuania

Lithuania does not recognise same-sex marriages or civil unions. A bill to grant same-sex couples some limited legal rights and benefits is pending in the Seimas.

Background
In 2011, the Constitutional Court of Lithuania ruled that the family does not derive exclusively from marriage, opening the possibility for partnerships or other forms of legal recognition to be introduced to same-sex couples. On 25 March 2015, nine MPs from the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Movement introduced a civil partnership bill to the Seimas. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius expressed his opposition to the bill. On 6 May 2015, the Committee on Legal Affairs announced that they could find no constitutional barriers to same-sex civil partnerships. The bill was not voted on and died at the end of the legislative session in November 2016. A similar bill was introduced by deputies from the Liberal Movement on 30 May 2017. The bill was rejected at first reading in a 29–59 vote with 20 abstentions on 15 June 2017.

In 2017, the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union and the Homeland Union proposed a bill to establish "cohabitation agreements" (susitarimo dėl bendro gyvenimo) as an alternative to civil partnerships. The proposed legislation would guarantee cohabitants hospital visitation rights and the right to inherit a late partner's property. Povilas Urbšys, one of the authors of the proposal, said: "Our registered project will effectively contribute to legal clarity, regulate property rights and some property unrelated relations between people living together and will also help to avoid negative consequences when the cohabitation is dissolved." The proposal, which was criticised by LGBT groups, explicitly stipulated that the cohabitants entering the agreement did not intend to create family relations. The proposal was preliminarily approved by the Seimas with 46 votes for, 17 votes against and 6 abstentions on 31 May 2017 and sent to further consideration. On 25 October 2017, the Lithuanian Government announced its support for the bill, but it stalled and was not voted on before the end of the legislative session.

On 14 February 2018, appearing at an LGBT rally in Vilnius, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis called on the Seimas to recognise same-sex partnerships. Of the eight candidates running in the 2019 presidential election, five expressed support for registered partnerships, namely Vytenis Andriukaitis, Arvydas Juozaitis, Valentinas Mazuronis, Ingrida Šimonytė and winner Gitanas Nausėda. The other three candidates, Mindaugas Puidokas, Saulius Skvernelis and Naglis Puteikis, expressed support for limited legal rights such as inheritance and property rights, among others, while also stating their opposition to same-sex marriage.

Attempts at legalization in 2021–2024
In December 2020, MP Tomas Vytautas Raskevičius from the Freedom Party said that the government would submit a civil partnership bill to Parliament in March 2021. The bill's introduction was a condition for creating the ruling coalition formed following the 2020 parliamentary election. In May 2021, an estimated 10,000 people demonstrated in Vilnius to oppose the partnership legislation. On 25 May 2021, the civil partnership bill was defeated at first reading, receiving 63 votes in favour out of the 65 required. Raskevičius said the bill would be brought back to Parliament in an amended form during the autumn session.

Legislation creating civil unions was drafted by a group of MPs and introduced to Parliament in May 2022. The proposal is a compromise after the more expansive civil partnership bill was defeated in 2021. On 26 May 2022, the draft bill passed its first reading in the Seimas by 70 votes in favour, 49 votes against and 6 abstentions. On the same day, an alternative draft amendment to the Civil Code aiming to "regulate the recognition of a person's right to close relations" also passed its first reading, with 70 votes in favour, 23 votes against and 30 abstentions. Actress Elzbieta Latanaite said in response, "My feelings are mixed after the vote. On the one hand, the parliament took a step towards Europe, towards Western values. But on the other hand, there's nothing joyous that even such a restrained bill cannot pass without a big fight, with powerful homophobes hurling insults at citizens who want equal rights". President Gitanas Nausėda has declined to take an official position on the bills, but in a September 2023 interview said that efforts to allow same-sex unions are "a sign of a civilized state".


 * a. There were a number of inconsistencies in the link regarding the vote count ("Frakcijų balsavimo rezultatai lentelėje"): (1) The numbers listed in the site show the Labor Party at only 9 MPs instead of 10 and the Regions Political Group at 9 instead of 8, (2) The name of MP Ewelina Dobrowolska of the Freedom Party was missing entirely from all of the vote counts, & (3) Although the MP serving as the Speaker of the Seimas (i.e. Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen) was not included in the vote count of her respective political party, her name was nevertheless listed in the second column ("Asmeniniai balsavimo rezultatai lentelėje").

In September 2022, the Committee on Legal Affairs approved the civil union bill 6–1 and recommended the Seimas to pass it and reject the alternative "close connection agreement" bill. The civil union bill passed its second reading on 23 May 2023 by a vote of 60–52 with 3 abstentions. The legislation would establish civil unions (civilinė sąjunga, ) offering some of the rights and benefits of marriage, including joint property ownership and the ability to make medical decisions for a partner, while not allowing for joint adoption. Some lawmakers expressed doubts that the bill would receive a third reading before the May 2024 presidential election. In June 2024, the Freedom Party announced it would block the government's candidate for European Commissioner until it agrees to pass the civil union bill.

In April 2023, the Vilnius District Court rejected the request of a same-sex couple to enter into a civil partnership, ruling that Lithuania lacked a partnership law and that this was a matter for the Parliament to deal with.

Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is not legal in Lithuania, as the Civil Code defines marriage as a "voluntary agreement between a man and a woman". Moreover, an additional article in the Civil Code explicitly bans same-sex marriages. Nevertheless, a drive to amend the Constitution of Lithuania to ban same-sex marriages was reportedly under way in December 2005 by a social conservative member of the Seimas who had started collecting signatures. Julius Sabatauskas, the chairman of the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, however, denounced the plan as unnecessary as "the Constitution already bans same-sex marriage". Article 38 of the Constitution states: "Marriage shall be concluded upon the free mutual consent of man and woman."

In April 2023, three same-sex couples filed a lawsuit challenging the government's refusal to establish civil partnerships and its refusal to recognise same-sex marriages validly performed abroad. "For a long time, it has been misinterpreted that the Lithuanian Constitution prohibits same-sex marriages, but this is a myth that we will try to dispel in court. Especially since more than half of EU member countries have already legalized same-sex marriages," said a lawyer representing the couples. The couples also cited the European Court of Human Rights' January 2023 ruling in Fedotova and Others v. Russia that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees a right to private and family life, places a positive obligation on all member states of the Council of Europe to recognize same-sex partnerships. On 28 July 2023, a court in Vilnius dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Article 38 of the Constitution "is clear and specific, and does not give rise to any presumption that it can be interpreted as conferring the right to marry irrespective of the sex of the persons concerned". The couples announced their intention to appeal the decision.

2018 European Court of Justice ruling
On 5 June 2018, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that European Union (EU) member states must recognise the freedom of movement and residency rights of same-sex spouses, provided one partner is an EU citizen. The court ruled that EU member states may choose whether or not to allow same-sex marriage, but they cannot obstruct the freedom of residence of an EU citizen and their spouse. In addition, the court ruled that the term "spouse" is gender-neutral and does not necessarily imply a person of the opposite sex. On 11 January 2019, the Lithuanian Supreme Court ruled that the government must grant residency permits to the same-sex spouses of EU citizens in compliance with the ECJ ruling.

Religious performance
The Catholic Church opposes same-sex marriage and does not allow its priests to officiate at such marriages. In December 2023, the Holy See published Fiducia supplicans, a declaration allowing Catholic priests to bless couples who are not considered to be married according to church teaching, including the blessing of same-sex couples. Archbishop of Vilnius Gintaras Grušas released a statement on 22 December that "[t]he declaration encourages believers to realize that the Church does not seek to alienate, but to help those who seek God's help and desire to open up to Him, to better understand His plan of love and truth."

Public opinion
According to the 2015 Eurobarometer, 24% of Lithuanians supported same-sex marriage, the fourth lowest among EU member states alongside Slovakia and significantly lower than the EU average of 61%. The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 30% of Lithuanians thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, while 63% were against.

A November 2022 opinion poll conducted by the Delfi news website showed that one in two Lithuanians supported civil unions for same-sex couples, and 70% supported civil unions for opposite-sex couples.

A GLOBSEC survey conducted in March 2023 showed that 22% of Lithuanians supported same-sex marriage, while 60% were opposed. The 2023 Eurobarometer found that 39% of Lithuanians thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe (an increase of 15% compared to the 2015 Eurobarometer), while 55% were opposed. The survey also found that 42% of respondents thought that "there is nothing wrong in a sexual relationship between two persons of the same sex", while 53% disagreed.