Macedonia Moves to Rule Out Same-Sex Marriage

The motion to define marriage strictly as a union of one man and one woman, submitted at the weekend, was one of the first orders of business of the conservative Government of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski  after it was re-elected in April.

“The constitutional protection and the clear defining of marriage will allow further protection of children and affirmation of their upbringing in a family atmosphere in which the main pillars are the parents, the father and mother,” government spokesperson Aleksandar Gjorgjiev said.

In order to pass, the motion needs the support from two-thirds of MP's in the 123-seat assembly. The ruling parties are close to controlling two-thirds in parliament but can not pass the changes alone.

It is expected that the opposition Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, a party with a conservative outlook which controls seven MPs, could provide the additional votes.

This is not the first attempt of the authorities to pass a constitutional change that is deemed anti-gay.

In 2010 when Macedonia's five leading  faiths united against gay marriage and pushed for the same initiative, Gruevski's main ruling VMRO DPMNE party supported it.

Last year the ruling party submitted the proposal to parliament through MP Vlatko Gjorcev but it did not muster the needed two-third majority.

Then the main opposition Social Democrats, SDSM refused to support the motion, saying it was completely obsolete, as the Law on the Family passed in the 1990s already defined marriage in heterosexual terms.

Macedonian family law professor Dejan Mickovic said that he sees the government’s latest push as a "strictly political decision" aimed at "strengthening the traditional notion of marriage"...