Same-sex Cypriot couples who have married abroad and return to Cyprus with or without their children find themselves trapped by the country’s national legislation.
The Republic of Cyprus does not recognise their marriage or their family, resulting in these couples facing a range of social and practical issues.
Tragically, as representatives of Accept-LGBTI pointed out yesterday in Parliament, when it comes to same-sex couples of other nationalities, the Republic of Cyprus recognises both their marriage and their children based on European recommendations.
“If we hold Cypriot citizenship, our case is handled under Cypriot law. If we do not have Cypriot citizenship, then our marriage and family are recognised through the Yellow Slip, and things are more straightforward in that case,” explained a member of Accept-LGBTI, who had married another Cypriot national abroad, during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights.
She added, “We face problems with the recognition of our children. For example, if I, as the biological mother, were to pass away, my wife (spouse) would not be able to claim our children because she is not recognised as their mother. This applies to all matters concerning our children. In reality, we are not recognised at all, and our rights as citizens are effectively infringed upon”.
It was explained that the civil partnership agreement has no legal standing regarding children and other matters in other countries, and this applies to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.
“There is a case of a Greek national who entered into a civil partnership agreement with a Cypriot woman, and when he went to Greece to settle some administrative matters, he learned that the Cypriot civil partnership agreement is not recognised there because Greece has a different system called a cohabitation agreement, and each country regulates this issue based on its own criteria, so the problem is widespread”, she continued.
MPs on the committee also pointed out that “in the case of female same-sex couples, the children are recognised as the biological mother’s/couple’s children. For male couples, the problem is even more significant.”
A solution to these problems, participants in the meeting noted, could be the recognition of same-sex civil marriage in Cyprus, as “the current gaps in recognising same-sex families translate into issues in education and the issuance of various official documents, creating practical problems in addition to the social ones that should not exist in the first place”.
Accept-LGBTI representatives also drew attention to the discrimination and hate speech that members of the LGBTQI community in Cyprus continue to experience.
Particular reference was made to communities in the free area of Famagusta and the Larnaca district, where discriminatory incidents are frequently reported.
They gave the example of a trans woman who is almost daily subjected to attacks by specific groups of people in her neighbourhood. As they described, “She is assaulted both inside and outside her home. They beat her and hurl insults, and recently, they even graffitied her house with messages like “you’re trans, you should die”, and other similar statements.”
“Discrimination and hate speech are prevalent,” stated an Accept representative. “I had posted a video of the pride parade online, and you wouldn’t believe the kind of abusive comments and messages I received,” they added.
The MPs on the committee expressed their concerns, and the representative of the Ministry of Justice was asked to address the state’s efforts regarding public awareness, the education of children about same-sex families, and LGBTQI issues in general.
He stated that procedures for developing a national strategy have been initiated, noting that the strategy is expected to be ready by the end of 2024.
At the beginning of the meeting, the committee chair reiterated the findings of a recent European survey, which revealed that seven out of ten Cypriots conceal their sexual orientation, and 71% avoid publicly acknowledging their relationship. The corresponding figure in the EU is 53%.
