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Catholic World News News Feature

European Council plans hearings on same-sex marriage March 05, 2008

The Council of Europe will hold parliamentary hearings on same-sex marriage in Paris on March 7.

The hearings, concentrating on the legal recognition of homosexual partnerships, will allow representatives of gay-rights organizations to address European lawmakers, presenting their case for state approval of same-sex marriage. Sponsors of the hearings-- representing Socialist and other leftist parties from several different European states-- said that the European Council should explore the possibility that same-sex marriage may be required under various provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights, including the guarantees of a right to privacy in family life and a right to marry. The failure to allow homosexuals to contract a legal marriage, the sponsors said, cannot be justified by a “predisposed bias on the part of a heterosexual majority against a homosexual minority.”

The sponsors note an "enormous variation" in the way different European countries treat the legal status of same-sex couples, and suggests that the European Council make suggestions for more appropriate policies.