Latvia celebrates the first homosexual unions after the reform approved in November

1 Jul. () –

Starting this Monday, Latvia authorizes homosexual couples to formalize their relationship in the registry as a civil union, the result of a reform approved last November and which does not establish in any case the same rights and duties as marriage, which remains reserved in the Constitution. Latvian for the union between a man and a woman.

Janis and Maksim were the first to benefit from these new changes, with a ceremony held in Riga in the early hours of the morning, according to state television. “History is being made,” said the Dzivebiedri organisation, one of the promoters of the reform, on social media, along with images of the process.

Prime Minister Evika Silina welcomed the entry into force of the new regulation, “a step for many couples seeking legal recognition and protection of their relationship.” President Edgars Rinkevics, the first openly gay EU head of state, also welcomed the changes, a “right step” that comes after “a long road.”