Exchanged Silver Rings, This Homo Couple Is The First To Register Same-Sex Relationships In Latvia

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION/LGBTQI+ demo Action In Sydney/Nikolas Gannon

JAKARTA - Makisms Ringo and Janis Locs became the first Latvian same-sex couples to register their partners, shortly after midnight when the new law came into effect.

After an event at the law firm in Riga, the couple exchanged silver rings at a party at the city's main library and hoped to get a gold ring if Latvia legalized same-sex marriage, Ringo said.

"We've been together for five and a half years... so for us, this is mostly practical", Ringo said, adding to the right to visit hospitals, for example, under a new law.

Homosexuality is still a divisive topic in Latvia, where its legislators in 2005 changed the constitution to define marriage is only allowed between men and women.

Latvian parliament voted last November to officially certify same-sex civil marriage, after 46 same-sex couples managed to challenge the court to be recognized as a family unit before the law.

This allows partners in the union to have the right to visit hospitals, as well as provide a number of tax benefits and social security. But they cannot adopt children and continue to face inheritance problems.

The changes taking place in Latvia means there are now only five European Union countries where same-sex relations cannot register civil unions: Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Latvian Parliament elected President Edgars Rinkevics as the first gay head of state in the European Union in May last year, although 45% of Latvians said in a 2019 Eurobarometer poll they were uncomfortable having high-ranking homosexual or bisexual officials.

Latvian gay rights activist Kaspars Zalitis said several notary offices where civilian unions were registered were under a new law facing same-sex queues that wanted to register their relationship as quickly as possible.