It occurs after the approval of a new law that allows homosexual couples to register in the official registry of de facto couples. It has been approved in the middle of LGTBI pride month.
Maksims Ringo y Janis Locs have become the first Latvian same-sex couple to register their union this Monday, shortly after midnight, when a new law went into effect.
From now on, all couples, including those of the same sex, they may register their relationship under it. “We have been waiting for this day for a long time, since the law was approved. It is a long-awaited event,” says Janis Locs.
Parliament legalized civil unions between people of the same sex last November, after 46 same-sex couples successfully appealed to the courts to be recognized as a family unit before the law.
“This is not only historically important. This is really of great importance for Latvian society, the right to recognize that people are different“Relationships are different and all are valuable and all must be protected.”
A will be recorded de facto couple if the people are not married, they are not close relatives in the direct line and if they are not siblings.