Same-sex marriage

==== European Court of Human Rights ====
In 2010, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] (ECHR) ruled in ''[[Schalk and Kopf v Austria]]'', a case involving an Austrian same-sex couple who were denied the right to marry.<ref name="CASE OF SCHALK AND KOPF v. AUSTRIA">{{Cite web |title=HUDOC – European Court of Human Rights |url=http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-99605 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911221342/http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001-99605 |archive-date=11 September 2015 |access-date=26 July 2015}}</ref> The court found, by a vote of 4 to 3, that their human rights had not been violated.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Buyse |first=Antoine |date=24 June 2010 |title=Strasbourg court rules that states are not obliged to allow gay marriage |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/jun/24/european-court-of-human-rights-civil-partnerships |url-status=live |access-date=8 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213205714/http://www.theguardian.com/law/2010/jun/24/european-court-of-human-rights-civil-partnerships |archive-date=13 December 2013}}</ref> The court further stated that same-sex unions are not protected under art. 12 of ECHR ("Right to marry"), which exclusively protects the right to marry of opposite-sex couples (without regard if the sex of the partners is the result of birth or of sex change), but they are protected under art. 8 of ECHR ("Right to respect for private and family life") and art. 14 ("Prohibition of discrimination").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Avram |first=Marieta |title=Drept civil Familia |date=2016 |publisher=Editura Hamangiu |isbn=978-606-27-0609-8 |location=Bucharest |language=Romanian |trans-title=Civil law Family}}</ref>

[[Article 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights]] states that: "Men and women of marriageable age have the right to marry and to found a family, according to the national laws governing the exercise of this right",<ref>{{Cite web |title=European Convention on Human Rights |url=http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140703060501/http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf |archive-date=3 July 2014 |access-date=25 July 2015 |website=ECHR.coe.int |publisher=European Court of Human Rights}}</ref> not limiting marriage to those in a heterosexual relationship. However, the ECHR stated in ''Schalk and Kopf v Austria'' that this provision was intended to limit marriage to heterosexual relationships, as it used the term "men and women" instead of "everyone".<ref name="CASE OF SCHALK AND KOPF v. AUSTRIA" /> Nevertheless, the court accepted and is considering cases concerning same-sex marriage recognition, e.g. Andersen v. Poland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=001-218104 |website=ECHR |access-date=21 July 2022 |language=English|title=HUDOC - European Court of Human Rights }}</ref> In 2021, the court ruled in ''[[Fedotova and Others v. Russia]]''—followed by later judgements concerning other member states—that countries must provide some sort of legal recognition to same-sex couples, although not necessarily marriage.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Palazzo |first1=Nausica |title=Fedotova and Others v. Russia : Dawn of a new era for European LGBTQ families? |journal=Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law |date=April 2023 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=216–228 |doi=10.1177/1023263X231195455|s2cid=261655476 }}</ref>