Lithuania’s Justice Ministry has begun appealing court rulings mandating it to register same-sex partnerships, with lawyers saying the decision is political.
Jonas Sakalauskas and Edmundas have been together for 11 years. As early as 2023, the couple went to court seeking recognition of their partnership. Courts of two instances rejected their applications, prompting the pair to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and Lithuania’s Constitutional Court.
In 2024, the government also applied to the Constitutional Court, asking it to clarify whether the inability of same-sex couples to enter into partnerships was incompatible with the Constitution.
In April last year, the Constitutional Court ruled that the partnership provision in the Civil Code was unconstitutional because it defined partnership only as a union between a man and a woman and did not recognise same-sex relationships.
This landmark ruling opened the way for gender-neutral partnerships to be registered through the courts until parliament adopts more detailed legislation governing the legal status of unmarried couples living together. Responsibility for implementing the Constitutional Court’s ruling falls to the Justice Ministry.
