Fight for equality is far from over in Austria

By joan on Sunday, December 20, 2009 - 12:24

The end of 2009 is near and come 2010 Austrian citizens will finally have the right to register same-sex partnerships. The battle for legal equality of same-sex partnerships in Austria is over. Or is it?

With the bill on registered partnerships for same-sex couples, which the Austrian Federal Government adopted on November 17, "Austria finally found its way into the 20th century," Rechtskomitee LAMBDA (RKL, Austria's lgbt rights-organisation) comments, "it did not make it into the 21st century."

A first analysis by RKL showed 74 differences to marriage. Lobbying from RKL moved the Justice Committee (Justizausschuß) to reduce them to "just" 47.

While to enter marriage is legal from the age of 16, to enter into a registered partnership (which is a special partnership for same-sex couples only) one has to be aged 18. Registered Partnerships won't be registered at the civil registry (Standesamt) where marriages are performed, but are to be registered at the District Administrative Authorities (Bezirksverwaltungsbehörden), which is where one applies for passports, id-cards, driving-licences and so on.

Six of the remaining 47 differences are even a change for the worse when compared to the current position of common-law spouses (Lebensgefährt/innen).
Those differences are:

1. Absolute ban on stepchild adoption. (§ 8 Abs. 4 EPG)
2. Ban to use artificial insemination. (§ 2 Abs. 1 FMG)
3. No right for retired physicians (emeritierte Ärzt/innen) to treat their family members. (§ 59 ÄrzteG)
4. It's harder to get leave to care for dying stepchildren (Familienhospizkarenz). (§ 14a, 14b AVRAG, § 78d BDG, § 29k VBG u.a.)
5. No work time reduction or parental leave to care for stepchildren. (§§ 50b, 75 BDG, § 29b VBG, § 10 GehaltsG u.a.)
6. It's harder to get paid special leave to care for sick stepchildren. (§ 16 UrlG; § 76 BDG, § 29f VBG u.a.)

A very bizarre discrimination, which underlines the length to which the Conservative Party will go to prevent all references to family, is the introduction of a new category of second-name, the "surname", into Austrian law. RKL explains:

Who enters into a registered partnership will lose his/her family-name. Both registered partners will keep their second-names, but this name will cease to be a family-name and ex lege be changed into a surname. If Müller and Mayer enter into a registered partnership they are keeping their names Müller and Mayer, but not as family-names (as before registration) but (new) as surnames.
Rechtskomitee LAMBDA

Not only are registered partners forced to out themselves as part of a same-sex couple wherever they have to declare their family status (since registered partnerships are for same-sex relationships only), but with the introduction of a separate "surname" (again for registered partners only), they will do so whenever they have to fill out a legal form that asks for or provide ID that shows a second-name.

The fight for equality is not over. Not by a long shot. We will not be quiet until there is, as Dr. Helmut Graupner, president of Rechtskomitee LAMBDA puts it, "One law for everyone!"

More info and resources at rklamda.at: