Recognition of same-sex unions in Liechtenstein
has recognized registered partnerships since 1 September 2011.
Registered partnerships
On 19 November 2001, MP Paul Vogt submitted a registered partnership initiative to the Landtag, which after long discussion referred it to the Cabinet for its opinion. The goal of reducing discrimination was undisputed; rather the kind of recognition and the timing compared to neighbouring countries were cause for discussion. On 15 April 2003, the Cabinet published its position on the matter; it compared the legal situation in Liechtenstein with European countries with recognition of same-sex couples, but also with neighbouring Austria and Switzerland, which had no legal recognition of same-sex couples at the time. As the Cabinet saw no urgent need and preferred to await developments in Austria and especially Switzerland, it recommended rejection. On 14 May 2003, the Landtag discussed and rejected the initiative.On 17 September 2007, Amnesty International Liechtenstein submitted a petition calling for the legal recognition of same-sex couples. A subsequent motion put forward in the Landtag by the Free List, requesting that the Cabinet introduce a registered partnership law similar to Switzerland's, passed on 24 October 2007 with 19 representatives voting in favour and 6 voting against.
| Political affiliation | Voted for | Voted against |
| Progressive Citizens' Partya | ||
| Patriotic Uniona | ||
| Free List | - | |
| Total | 6 |
In December 2009, Justice Minister Aurelia Frick announced that she would finalise a draft of the registered partnership bill by January 2010. The draft was presented in April 2010. After the consultation period for the bill finished on 16 July, a few items were amended as a result of the discussion.
The Registered Partnership Act has been described as very similar to the Austrian law passed in autumn 2009. In August 2010, Prince Alois declared his support for the bill. On 23 November 2010, the Cabinet formulated the final version of the bill, which was approved by Parliament in the first reading on 16 December 2010. It was passed in the second reading on 16 March 2011 and published on 21 March.
| Political affiliation | Voted for | Absent |
| Patriotic Uniona | ||
| Progressive Citizens' Partya | ||
| Free List | - | |
| Total | 4 |
Referendum
A group called Vox Populi announced its intention to force a referendum on the matter. According to the Constitution, the organization had until 21 April to collect at least 1,000 signatures. As the necessary signatures were gathered, a referendum was held between 17 and 19 June 2011. The registered partnership law was approved by 68.8 percent of those who voted and thus went into effect on 1 September 2011.By municipality, the "Yes" vote received its largest support in Planken, followed by Schaan and Ruggell, whereas the highest "No" vote was recorded in Eschen.
Family name
In 2016, the Cabinet reformed family name law. Registered partners are now allowed to have a common family name; however, it is simply called "name" as opposed to "family name" for married couples, thus keeping a distinction. The reform was discussed in the Landtag on 4 March 2016 in its first reading, and was approved in its second and final reading on 31 August 2016. It was published in the official gazette on 3 November 2016 and took effect on 1 January 2017.| Political affiliation | Voted for |
| Progressive Citizens' Partya | |
| Patriotic Uniona | |
| The Independents | |
| Free List | |
| Total |
Statistics
Eleven registered partnerships were performed in the first two years following the entry into force of the law. This made up 2.7% of all unions celebrated those two years. 8 partnerships were between male couples and 3 were between female couples. The number of registered partnerships performed in Liechtenstein per year is shown in the table below. The data is collected by the Amt für Statistik.| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | Total | |
| Female | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Male | 4 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| Total | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 24 |
Same-sex marriage
In June 2017, Justice Minister Aurelia Frick said she was open to a public debate on the legalisation of same-sex marriage. MP Daniel Seger, who helped draft the partnership law, welcomed the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Germany and hoped that Liechtenstein would follow suit.In 2018, a gay couple, Lukas Oehri and Dario Kleeb, applied for a marriage license at the Civil Registry Office. Their request was rejected based on the decision that same-sex couples must join via the partnership law. They filed suit in court, arguing that the same-sex marriage ban is in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution of Liechtenstein. The Administrative Court ruled in the couple's favour, but the judgement was overturned on appeal by the State Court in September 2019. The StGH ruled, in case 2018/154, that banning same-sex marriage is not unconstitutional. However, the court concluded that several provisions of the 2011 partnership law were discriminatory, notably its provisions prohibiting civil partners from adopting their stepchildren. In response, the government announced it would evaluate the issue after careful discussion, though currently has expressed no explicit plans to amend the law.
Following the Swiss National Council's vote to legalize same-sex marriage on 11 June 2020, Amos Kaufmann from the LGBT group Flay expressed his hope that Liechtenstein would soon follow suit. The Liechtensteiner Vaterland newspaper wrote that the issue might "soon be on the political arena". Minister of Social Affairs Mauro Pedrazzini said he expects discussion on the issue to become quite present in the lead up to the 2021 parliamentary election. A spokesman for the Pariotic Union said the party had "more pressing issues", but said they would follow the developments in Switzerland and take a formal decision later on. Party president of the Progressive Citizens' Party Marcus Vogt said the party was still debating whether to take an official stance in support of same-sex marriage.