tovaris
December 22nd, 2015, 01:52 PM
(CNN)Slovenian voters have rejected by a large margin a law that would have given same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt children, Slovenia's government says.
Just over 63% of voters in Sunday's referendum rejected the bill redefining marriage as a union between two consenting adults, rather than expressly between a man and a woman.
There was a relatively low rate of participation, with just over 36% of eligible voters turning out, Slovenia's Government Communication Office said.
The defeat of the bill, which would have established full legal equality between heterosexual and same-sex marriage, was seen as a victory for conservatives backed by the Catholic Church, the dominant religious group in the former Yugoslav republic of about 2 million people.
Slovenia had passed a law in March, proposed by the opposition United Left party and supported by the government, giving same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/21/europe/slovenia-rejects-same-sex-marriage/
Just over 63% of voters in Sunday's referendum rejected the bill redefining marriage as a union between two consenting adults, rather than expressly between a man and a woman.
There was a relatively low rate of participation, with just over 36% of eligible voters turning out, Slovenia's Government Communication Office said.
The defeat of the bill, which would have established full legal equality between heterosexual and same-sex marriage, was seen as a victory for conservatives backed by the Catholic Church, the dominant religious group in the former Yugoslav republic of about 2 million people.
Slovenia had passed a law in March, proposed by the opposition United Left party and supported by the government, giving same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/12/21/europe/slovenia-rejects-same-sex-marriage/