All people must be treated equally. Therefore the age of consent must be the same for all variations of intercourse.
Civil marriage must be open to both straight and same-sex couples.
LGBTI individuals and same-sex couples must have equal access to adoption.
Family laws should reflect the free choices that individuals make in organising their relationships.
Same-sex couple’s legal parenthood of their children must be automatically obtained at their birth by both parents.
Currently 14 EU Member States (EUMS) provide marriage for same-sex couples, and in another 9 EUMS same-sex couples can enter a registered partnership. At present 6 EUMS provide no legal recognition for same-sex couples. Due to these great differences between EUMS regarding the legal recognition for same-sex couples, LGBTI people and their families encounter, when residing in other EUMS, difficulties on grounds of sexual orientation that different-sex couples do not experience. They may encounter difficulties in such areas as recognition of their relationship, divorce and separation, immigration, children’s rights, parental responsibility, employment benefits and pension, property regimes, inheritance, recognition and enforcement of rights/obligations already acquired in host/other Member States, and possible other areas.
The Court of Justice of the European Union delivered a judgment on 5 June 2018, saying that the definition of ‘spouse’ in EU law on freedom of movement includes same-sex couples. So, EU Member States are under an obligation to grant the spouse (including from a country outside the EU) of an EU citizen a residence permit in the same way they would grant permits to different-sex spouses.
Freedom of movement one of the four fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the EU and all same-sex couples and families must be able to move freely within the EU seeing their marriages recognised and without losing their rights, duties and protections when they do so.
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