ZAGREB, 26 May 2022 - The Dugine obitelji (Rainbow Families) NGO said on Thursday the High Administrative Court delivered a precedent ruling that all life partners may be evaluated for adoption suitability and must not be discriminated against on sexual orientation grounds.
"They can no longer discriminate against you based on sexual orientation, they can turn you down based on some criteria," said the NGO's president, Daniel Martinović.
He said there might be difficulties based on discrimination, but hoped there would not be any, calling on everyone who encountered obstacles to contact the NGO.
The court dismissed the relevant ministry's argument that same-sex couples should not be assessed for adoption for the sake of "protecting the child's interest", he said, adding that the ministry can no longer appeal.
Dugine obitelji said the ruling had far-reaching consequences for LGBTIQ and same-sex couples' rights as it practically equated their rights and those of married couples. The ruling allows all same-sex couples to decide to start a family by adopting, it added.
Life partners Mladen Kožić and Ivo Šegota, whom the family ministry rejected for adoption in 2016 because they had become life partners, said they were happy with the ruling and the fact that "after six years state institutions will start treating our family as all other families."
In April 2021, the Zagreb Administrative Court found in favour of Kožić and Šegota, but the ministry appealed the ruling. After a year, the High Administrative Court dismissed the appeal.
For more, check out our politics section.
