Same-sex marriage in Austria


Same-sex marriage in Austria has been legal since 1 January 2019, following a decision of the Constitutional Court on 4 December 2017. The country has allowed registered partnerships since 1 January 2010.

Unregistered cohabitation

On 24 July 2003, the European Court of Human Rights published its decision in Karner v. Austria, which was submitted on 24 July 1997. The applicant, who died in 2000 while the case was pending, was taken to court in 1995 by his landlord who wanted to terminate the tenancy after Karner's same-sex partner died. Austrian law provided that family members had a right to succeed to a tenancy. While the case was initially dismissed by lower courts, the Constitutional Court of Austria ruled in favour of the landlord, saying the notion of "life companion" was only applicable to persons of the opposite sex. The European Court of Human Rights considered this ruling in violation of the anti-discrimination provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. Since this decision, cohabiting same-sex partners have been entitled to the same rights as unmarried cohabiting opposite-sex partners.

Registered partnerships

During this period, the Social Democratic Party and the Greens were in opposition while the government was led by the conservative Austrian People's Party. Both centre-left parties called for the recognition of same-sex unions. First, in June 2004, the Greens proposed a Zivilpakt modelled after the French civil solidarity pact. In December 2004, SPÖ adopted a major policy decision on the issue of equal treatment of same-sex couples. In addition to calling for the introduction of registered partnerships, the party supported the investigation of opening marriage for same-sex couples. In May 2005, the Greens became the first major party to expressly call for the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The Greens praised the June 2005 referendum in Switzerland legalising registered partnerships and called for equal rights in Austria. In April 2006, the Vienna branch of the SPÖ followed the Greens in explicitly calling for the legalisation of marriage and adoption for same-sex couples.

Legalisation of registered partnerships

Following the October 2006 election, the conservative Schüssel Government was succeeded by an SPÖ-ÖVP grand coalition on 11 January 2007.
In the "Perspectives" paper released by the Austrian People's Party on 1 October 2007, the Coalition announced its support for a registered partnership law similar to the Swiss model.
An agreed draft was released in late October 2007, which would have given couples in a registered partnership nearly the same rights as married couples, except for adoption rights. It was planned that the registered partnership bill, based on the Swiss model, would be introduced to the Parliament in September 2008, however, as the coalition of Social Democrats and the Austrian People's Party broke apart and early elections were scheduled for 28 September 2008, progress was delayed. The two parties saw considerable losses in the election but continued their grand coalition under Chancellor Werner Faymann.
In February 2009, Interior Minister Dr. Maria Fekter set up a working group, inviting delegations from all Austrian LGBT rights organizations to hold talks, including the Rechtskomitee Lambda, RosaLila PantherInnen and HOSI Linz, Salzburg, Tyrol and Vienna, on the issue of partnership recognition for same-sex couples. Maria Fekter announced that a bill for registered partnerships would be introduced and enacted in autumn 2009 and would become legal on 1 January 2010.
On 12 October 2009, the Greens urged the First Faymann Government to keep to its promise of having registered partnerships implemented by January 2010 with Green justice spokesman Albert Steinhauser saying that time was running out for the proposed law. The party also called for opening up marriage to same-sex couples. The next day, the Austrian Minister of Justice, Claudia Bandion-Ortner, announced that a registered partnership law would be announced "in a few weeks". She stated that such a law was in the process of being drafted, with some aspects of it still being under contention. A particular area of contention was whether registered partnerships should include a ceremony at the Standesamt.
On 11 November 2009, Minister of Justice Claudia Bandion-Ortner from the ÖVP presented a bill, which was rejected by the SPÖ because the bill did not include ceremonies.
On 17 November 2009, the Faymann Government finally approved the registered partnership bill proposed by the Minister of Justice. The bill provides equal rights in labour, immigration, pension, tax, and civil law to same-sex couples as marriage does to opposite-sex couples. It also allows for someone to change their surname to match their partner's and take a common surname. The bill was passed on 10 December by the National Council in a 110-64 vote. The two governing parties voted in favour, while FPÖ voted against and BZÖ and the Greens voted mostly against. The Greens considered it a step in the right direction, but thought it did not go far enough. On 18 December, it was passed by the Federal Council in a 44-8 vote. On 30 December, the law was published in the Federal Law Gazette, and took effect on 1 January 2010. On 4 January 2010, the first four same-sex couples were registered in partnerships in Vienna.
PartyVoted forVoted against
Social Democratic Party of Austria –
Austrian People's Party –
Freedom Party of Austria –
Alliance for the Future of Austria
The Greens – The Green Alternative
Total64

The Austrian LGBT rights organisation Rechtskomitee Lambda noted the 72 differences between registered partnerships and marriage. An opposite-sex couple applied for a registered partnership in February 2010, despite the legislation being created specifically for same-sex couples. The issue was moot as a result of the December 2017 Constitutional Court ruling in favour of same-sex marriage. The ruling found the restriction of registered partnerships to same-sex couples discriminatory and mandated that opposite-sex couples have the right to enter into a registered partnership from 1 January 2019.

Expansion of registered partnerships rights

In January 2013, the Constitutional Court of Austria ruled that the registered partnership law was partially unconstitutional, broadening the rights of registered partners. On 19 February 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in X and Others v. Austria that a partner in a same-sex union has the right to adopt his or her partner's biological child. On 5 July 2013, the Austrian Parliament passed the Adoptionsrechts-Änderungsgesetz 2013, allowing stepchild adoption by same-sex couples. The law entered into force on 1 August 2013. In January 2015, the Constitutional Court found the existing laws on adoption to be unconstitutional and ordered the laws to be changed by 31 December 2015 to allow joint adoption by same-sex couples. On 30 October 2015, the Justice Minister announced that the ban would no longer be enforced from 1 January 2016, thus allowing the Court's decision to automatically abolish the joint adoption ban.
In June 2013, in the run-up to that year's elections, the newly founded liberal party NEOS published a policy positions paper including support for full equal rights for registered partnerships, including adoption rights.
The SPÖ-ÖVP Coalition Government continued following the September 2013 elections. Although SPÖ had campaigned on an LGBT rights platform during the campaign, the coalition agreement did not include any measures to expand LGBT rights, due to opposition from the conservative ÖVP.
In late September 2016, the three ÖVP-led ministries agreed to remove two prominent differences between registered partnerships and marriages: it would be possible to register a partnership at the Standesamt rather than the Bezirkshauptmannschaften, and people in a registered partnership would have a regular Familienname rather than a Nachname, which was specifically created for partnerships. Following approval by the Council of Ministers on 22 November 2016 and by Parliament on 15 December, the law took effect on 1 April 2017. The Deregulierungs- und Anpassungsgesetz 2016, which included various other unrelated changes such as changes to the gun law, was approved by both governing parties and NEOS and opposed by FPÖ, the Greens and Team Stronach. Opposition parties criticised mixing unrelated legal matters in one law.

Statistcs

By June 2019, 4,173 same-sex couples had entered into registered partnerships, most in Vienna.
The number of same-sex registered partnerships performed each year per state is shown in the table below.
State2010201120122013201420152016201720182019Total
Burgenland127710818118274
Carinthia1720122223222222143177
Lower Austria10649524238595062548520
Salzburg3217192024222538191217
Styria74464635516446535411480
Tyrol4523233328363743446318
Upper Austria5843413236425860518429
Vienna349225179159185167215227198651,969
Vorarlberg1237159101613226113
Total7054333863684024234775294641104,297

Same-sex marriage

History

indirectly saw its first same-sex marriage in 2006 when the Constitutional Court granted a transsexual woman the right to change her legal gender to female while remaining married to her wife. The court invalidated a regulation that required married transsexuals to divorce before their new gender was legally recognised.
On 20 November 2013, the opposition Greens introduced a bill to Parliament that would have legalised same-sex marriage. It was sent to the Judiciary Committee on 17 December 2013 but was delayed by the ruling Coalition. The bill was due to be debated in autumn 2014.
In 2013, a case was filed with the Constitutional Court by a same-sex couple, married in the Netherlands and resident in Austria, who wanted to get married under Austrian law to remove uncertainties regarding their marital status. The case was dismissed on 12 March 2014.
On 18 June 2015, the Parliament rejected a Greens' proposal requiring the Faymann Government to introduce same-sex marriage legislation. Out of 136 representatives, 26 voted for and 110 voted against the proposal. The Social Democrats voted against, pointing to the fact their coalition partner ÖVP opposed same-sex marriage. NEOS supported the resolution, while Team Stronach and FPÖ joined the two governing parties in opposing the resolution.
Subsequently, an initiative "Ehe Gleich!" was launched to force Parliament to reconsider legalising same-sex marriage. The Petitions Committee of the National Council started considering the initiative on 17 November 2015, and called on the Ministry of Justice, led by Minister Wolfgang Brandstetter, and the Ministry of Families, led by Minister Sophie Karmasin, to state their positions. The Ministry of Families claimed that this issue fell outside of its area of responsibility, while the Ministry of Justice said that extending marriage to same-sex couples is not necessary. In November 2015, the "Ehe Gleich!" initiators further filed a lawsuit challenging the same-sex marriage ban. The case was dismissed by the Vienna Administrative Court on 21 December 2015. The plaintiffs appealed to the Constitutional Court. On 21 March 2016, a second same-sex marriage case was heard in the Upper Austrian Administrative Court in Linz. On 15 April 2016, the court dismissed the case as well.
On 30 June 2016, the Petitions Committee of the National Council, which had previously asked for the positions of the ÖVP-led Ministries of Justice and Families, considered the "Ehe Gleich!" initiative again and requested the positions of other ministries. The Ministry of Social Affairs, led by Minister Alois Stöger, responded unequivocally in favour of legalisation. The Ministry of Health and Women, led by Minister Sabine Oberhauser, also responded in favour. These responses were followed by further calls from party colleagues for the legalisation of same-sex marriage, while coalition partner ÖVP largely remained silent on the issue. However, the Constitutional Office, led by Minister Thomas Drozda, gave a response which was similar to the ÖVP-led ministries, rather than in line with what his SPÖ colleagues stated. Subsequently, the Office of Federal Chancellor Christian Kern, only in office for a few months, stated that same-sex marriage should be legalised. As the Constitutional Office falls under the Office of the Chancellor, the latter's position superseded Drozda's position that had not been in line with other SPÖ ministers.
On 6 October 2016, the "Ehe Gleich!" initiative was considered again by the Petitions Committee, which decided to ask for an international legal comparison by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This meant the initiative remained pending until at least January 2017. On 18 January 2017, the Committee on Citizen Petitions asked for an opinion from the national civil servants association.
In May 2017, when snap elections were called for 15 October 2017, the Greens proposed a summer deadline for the introduction of same-sex marriage. However, it was rejected by Parliament, with only NEOS supporting the Greens' proposal.

Constitutional Court ruling

On 12 October 2017, the Constitutional Court agreed to consider one of the cases challenging the law barring same-sex marriage. On 4 December 2017, the Constitutional Court struck down the ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. Same-sex marriage became legal on 1 January 2019, though the Parliament had the option to change the law sooner. The ruling also allowed the couples involved in the challenge to marry immediately. On 6 December, the SPÖ, which introduced a bill to legalise same-sex marriage on 9 November 2017, said it would continue to push for its approval, in the hope of allowing same-sex couples to marry sooner than 1 January 2019. On 13 December 2017, another same-sex marriage bill was introduced by NEOS Deputy Nikolaus Scherak. On 31 January 2018, SPÖ deputies withdrew their aforementioned bill and introduced a new one. No further action was taken on any of the legislation prior to the date of the ruling's effect, as the conservative First Kurz Government opposed same-sex marriage.
In September 2018, Justice Minister Josef Moser began preparations to implement the ruling, which would legalise same-sex marriage and open registered partnerships to different-sex couples. Ultimately, same-sex marriage became legal on 1 January 2019, as the Parliament took no action to legalize it sooner.
Article 44 of the Allgemeines bürgerliches Gesetzbuch now reads as follows:
Previously, the article contained the text verschiedenen Geschlechtes after Personen. This was repealed, effective from 1 January 2019.

First same-sex marriage

On 12 October 2018, the first same-sex marriage was performed and registered in Vienna involving a lesbian couple. Unlike other couples, the Constitutional Court allowed the plaintiff couples to marry immediately after their ruling to legalize same-sex marriage.

Subsequent changes

Days after the judgement of the Constitutional Court regarding same-sex marriage came into effect, the Ministry of the Interior told registries in the country not to allow such marriages if one of the spouses comes from a country that has not legalised same-sex marriage. In June 2019, the Social Democrats pledged to repeal this directive. The Austrian LGBT association Legal Committee Lambda had already filed a constitutional complaint against the ban. On 26 June, the Judiciary Committee of the National Council passed a bill presented by Deputy Irmgard Griss from NEOS to amend the Private International Law Act to allow same-sex marriages if one of the spouses comes from a country that has not legalised same-sex marriage. On 2 July, the bill was approved in the plenary by the National Council with the members of all parties voting in favor, with the exception of the Freedom Party of Austria. On 11 July, it was approved by the Federal Council. The bill was published in the Bundesgesetzblatt, and took effect on 1 August 2019.
Another notable discrimination for same-sex couples in Austria concerns couples who married abroad before 1 January 2019. Such couples need to divorce and then re-marry, if their relationship is to be recognised in Austria. An application to end this unequal treatment was submitted by SPÖ equal treatment spokesman Mario Lindner to the Committee on Internal Affairs in January 2019. RKL said that should the Ministry of the Interior insist on not rectifying this matter they would file a constitutional complaint.

Statistics

The number of same-sex marriages performed in Austria is shown in the table below.
State2019
Burgenland12
Carinthia67
Lower Austria139
Salzburg39
Styria118
Tyrol84
Upper Austria92
Vienna285
Vorarlberg24
Total860

Public opinion

A 2006 European Union poll surveying up to 30,000 people showed support for same sex marriage among Austrians at 49%.
A November 2013 poll by Market for Der Standard found that 61% supported same-sex marriage, while 33% did not. Adoption by same-sex couples was supported by 56% and opposed by 37%.
A May 2014 poll by Market for ORF found that 73% supported same-sex marriage, 24% opposed, while 3% did not answer. Support was higher among women and younger people.
The 2015 Eurobarometer found that 62% of Austrians thought that same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, 32% were against.
A July 2017 poll for Österreich found that 59% of Austrians supported same-sex marriage and 25% were against, while 16% did not answer. The poll also found that 79% of NEOS voters supported same-sex marriage, as did 73% of Greens voters, 71% of SPÖ voters, 56% of ÖVP voters, and 46% of FPÖ voters.
A Pew Research Center poll, conducted between April and August 2017 and published in May 2018, showed that 72% of Austrians supported same-sex marriage, 25% were opposed and 3% didn't know or refused to answer. When divided by religion, 87% of religiously unaffiliated people, 86% of non-practicing Christians and 42% of church-attending Christians supported same-sex marriage.
A September 2018 poll for Österreich found that 74% of Austrians supported same-sex marriage and 26% were against.
The 2019 Eurobarometer found that 66% of Austrians thought same-sex marriage should be allowed throughout Europe, 30% were against.