Moldovan LGBT Couple Sues State for Recognition

Two activists from Moldova's LGBT+ community, Angelica Frolov and Leo Zbanke, have filed an action in the country's courts demanding that the state recognise them as a couple.

Their action comes after the Public Services Agency, ASP, previously refused to register their union because they are of the same sex, and Moldovan legislation does not currently allow this.

"We are a couple who live together and have a joint household. We are a family with plans and aspirations. We don't want anything special or anything more than other couples in this state have. We want the same rights because it is just and fair," Frolov wrote on her Facebook page.

The two have been living together for over a year-and-a-half and have a joint bank account and common goods they bought together.

Frolov stated that it does not matter whether the state recognises their relationship as marriage, partnership or cohabitation.

"Call it what you want, but let's have all the rights available to any married couple in Moldova. I am a taxpayer and a citizen of Moldova. I have every justification for demanding from the state what belongs to me - equal rights," she wrote.

She is the advocacy program coordinator at Genderdoc-M Centre, an organisation that promotes the rights of LGBT+ people in Moldova.

The couple's action comes after the European Court of Human Rights on January 17 ruled that member countries of the Council of Europe, including Moldova, must recognise and protect by law families formed by people of the same sex.

If Moldova does not comply with the European court's decision on same-sex couples, after this approach in the Moldovan courts, Angelica Frolov and Leo Zbanke said they would seek justice before the ECtHR.

After the...