---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Wintemute, Robert Date: 22 February 2010 23:00 Subject: Eur Ct Human Rights: First same-sex marriage hearing To: "Wintemute, Robert" <robert.wintem...@kcl.ac.uk>
Dear Friends, On Thursday, 25 February 2010, I will have the honour and challenge of participating in the European Court of Human Rights' first hearing in a case about access for same-sex couples to civil or legal marriage, or to an alternative registration system: Schalk & Kopf v. Austria. The Court has granted me permission to make oral submissions (10 minutes only) on behalf of the four third-party interveners (amici curiae): the FIDH (the *Fédération Internationale des ligues des Droits de l'Homme*, Paris), the ICJ (the International Commission of Jurists, Geneva), the AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe, London), and ILGA-Europe (the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, Brussels). The hearing begans at 9:00 am, Strasbourg (France) time (GMT+1). A delayed webcast of the hearing will be available from 2:30 pm, Strasbourg time, at: http://www.echr.coe.int/ECHR/EN/Header/Press/Multimedia/Webcasts+of+public+hearings/ . If you are interested, you can watch it whenever you can find the time. The Court's press release follows this message. The question of access for transsexual individuals to different-sex civil or legal marriage (with a person of the sex opposite to their post-operative sex) went to the Court in Rees v. United Kingdom (1986), Cossey v. UK (1990), Sheffield & Horsham v. UK (1998), and Christine Goodwin v. UK (2002). Success came only after the 4th hearing, and 16 years of struggle. The vote in the Court switched from 2 to 18 in 1998, to 17 to 0 in 2002. Let's hope for some "beginner's luck" on Thursday! Best wishes, Rob The European Court of Human Rights will be holding the following hearing in February 2010: Thursday 25 February 2010 at 9 a.m. Chamber hearing on the merits and the admissibility Schalk and Kopf v. Austria (application no. 30141/04) The applicants, Horst Michael Schalk and Johann Franz Kopf, are Austrian nationals who were born in 1962 and 1960 respectively and live in Vienna. They are a same-sex couple and live together. In September 2002 the applicants asked the competent authorities to allow them to contract marriage. Their request was refused by the Vienna Municipal Office on the grounds that marriage could only be contracted between two persons of opposite sex. The applicants appealed before the Vienna Regional Governor and the Constitutional Court arguing that the notion of marriage had evolved over time thus having to be understood nowadays as a permanent union encompassing all aspects of life, and that the procreation and education of children were no longer a determinative factor in it. Their appeals were not successful. Both the Governor and the Constitutional Court, referring to Article 12 (right to marry) of the European Convention on Human Rights and also to Articles 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination), held that to limit the notion of marriage to the traditional concept of marriage reserved to persons of a different sex was objectively justified. The applicants lodged their application before the European Court of Human Rights on 5 August 2004. Relying on Article 12, they complain of the authorities’ refusal to allow them to contract marriage. Relying further on Article 14 in conjunction with Article 8 they complain that they were discriminated against on account of their sexual orientation since they were denied the right to marry and have no other possibility to have their relationship recognised by law. Finally, under Article 1 of Protocol 1 (protection of property), they allege that they suffer financial disadvantages compared to married couples Prof. Robert Wintemute (Professor of Human Rights Law) School of Law, King's College London, Strand London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom Tel: +44 20 7848 2356 Fax: +44 20 7848 2465 e-mail: robert.wintem...@kcl.ac.uk -- Do not print this mail unless really necessary. Save paper, save trees..!! If you loose your way while SCUBA diving, the safest direction to head for is UP..!!!
