According to an article in the Prague Post a law allowing same-sex partnership registration, in the Czech Republic, goes into effect today.
Although Czech President Václav Klaus refused to ratify it, he did not veto it.
Klaus said he opposes the law, which passed in 2006, because he feels it will complicate family law. But he said he will not use his veto powers to return it to Parliament, where it would require a three-fifths majority to pass.
That means he is, de facto, allowing the law.
Foreigners will also be able to register their same-sex partnerships as long as they have residency permits.
By Ondřej Bouda
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
Well-known gay and lesbian rights activist Jiří Hromada has become the first openly homosexual candidate to run for the Senate in the Czech Republic. Nominated by the Green Party April 19, Hromada’s name will be on the ballot in the upcoming fall elections.
Following reports of his nomination, news servers such as Novinky and Aktuálně.cz had to shut down online discussions because they were full of homophobic and vulgar comments. The right-wing extremist National Party immediately issued a press statement branding Hromada a “homosexual deviant.” Despite years of hard work by many gay and lesbian activists, it seemed from such reactions that homophobic feelings are still a part of the national culture, and Hromada’s candidacy in the upcoming election could serve as a test of the public’s tolerance and open-mindedness.
full article
Minister in charge of human rights and minorities Dzamila Stehlikova (Greens) opened a touring exhibition mapping some 20 years of Czech homosexual movement in the House of Ethnic Minorities in Prague Monday.
The display, to be held until January 21, offers photographs, period documents, covers of gay magazines as well as recordings from the discussion on registered partnership of same-sex couples in the Chamber of Deputies.
After Prague, the exhibition will continue in other Czech towns.
In 1990 only one-tenth of Czechs tolerated homosexuals, while last year it was 70 percent, according to polls.
The exhibition presents the position of homosexuals in the world from the Antiquity to the 19th century. It mainly focuses on the situation in the Czech Lands in the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938), during the Nazi occupation in 1939-1945 and under the communist regime (1948-1989).
The last part of the display describes the period following the collapse of communism in November 1989 when the organised movement for homosexuals' rights started working in the country.
Homosexuality was illegal in Czechoslovakia until 1961.
However, during the communist regime the legal age limit for sex was 18 years for homosexuals, compared to 15 years for heterosexuals. It was unified at 15 years for both only after the Velvet Revolution.
Discrimination on the sexual orientation grounds is banned in the Czech Republic on the basis on the anti-discrimination law.
Last year, Czech parliament passed the law on registered partnership of same-sex couples. Since then 346 couples have entered registered partnership.
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