Russian court rejects bid for first lesbian marriage
Photo: Rezh_timothy
A Moscow court has rejected a request by a lesbian couple to have a legally-recognized civil union, which would have paved the way for same-sex marriages in Russia.
The couple, Irina Fedotova-Fet and Irina Shipitko, bought the case to court after civil registrars refused to marry them in May.
The Tverskoy District Court backed the registry office's decision, citing Russian law which describes marriage only as a union between a woman and a man.
The two women are still determined to marry and plan to fly to Canada later this month for a civil ceremony that they will then push to have recognized in their homeland.
“We want recognition of our relationship by society and the state. We are a family already, we live together and share our household chores,” Shipitko said. “We would also like to have children. That is why we want legal recognition of our union.”
Since the early 1990s, Russia made homosexuality legal, but discrimination and harassment on remains widespread. The Moscow city authorities have prohibited gay rights marches and the city mayor Yuriy Luzhkov notoriously denounced homosexuality as “satanic”.
The couple’s lawyer and Russian gay rights activist Nicolay Alexeyev plan to appeal against the ruling, saying that they see this as part of a larger fight against prejudice and discrimination.
From Moscow, correspondent Anna Ardayeva reports on the couple's fight for recognition:
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