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: JURIST - The Paper Chase

Ireland passes civil partnership bill extending rights to same-sex couples

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

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[JURIST] The Department of Justice in Ireland published a Civil Partnership Bill on Sunday, extending certain rights to same-sex couples. The bill legally recognizes cohabiting but unmarried couples while stopping short of granting such couples full marital rights. The bill provides for numerous rights such as conveyance of a home. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Dermot Ahern T.D., observed, "t provides legal protection for cohabiting couples and is an important step, particularly for same-sex couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the State." Same-sex partnerships cannot be recognized as marriages because of Section 41.1.1 of the Irish Constitution. Ireland legalized homosexuality in 1993 and joins a growing contingent of countries and US States that recognize same-sex partnerships as either full marriage or civil unions/partnerships. Although a Greek court invalidated in May the first same-sex marriages performed in country, the Swedish parliament passed a same-sex marriage law in April. In December, Hungary struck down a same-sex partnership law by alleging that it would diminish the importance of marriage. In November, the Australian Senate approved a same-sex equal rights law but did not grant the right to marry.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on June 28, 2009 (boomark / email).