CROATIA'S SAME-SEX

MARRIAGE REFERENDUM
Firstly, the campaign about same-sex marriage started with the referendum
question : "Are you in favour of the constitution of the Republic of Croatia being
being amended with a provision stating that marriage is matrimony between a woman
and a man?" which was launched by a conservative organisation "U ime Obitelji" ("In
the Name of the Family") that gathered more than 700 000 signatures and demended
a referendum on the subject.
On the other hand, the referendum was supporte by conservative political parties,
the Catholic Church and several religious groups.
The advantage of the referendum itself is that after processing all the ballots we can
see how really open-minded our country is.
Also, the political views about the referendum were divided in opinion, with 104
votes in favour, 13 against and 5 abstentions.
However, the two largest parties, the HDZ and the SDP, did not embrace the proposal
and it was rejected. The only political party of the ruling coalition that supported the
constitutional review was the HNS.
The disvantage of this referendum is that with the outcome we can agree that Croatia
is still a conservative country that supportes and has religious views about marriage
and family and it's still not ready to give an opportunity to the LGBT population.
Also, the President of the European Socialists said that he was deeply disappointed
because he saw Croatia as an open and advanced society, and not as a country which
prohibits happiness and equal rights.
To sum up, the outcome of the referendum was expected and the organisation "U
ime Obitelji" resulted as a winner after processing all the ballots.
In fact, 65% of the population voted "Yes" and 34% voted "No". Meanwhile, only 1%
of the ballots were invalid.
As far as I'm concerned, I agree with the outcome because I think that tradition
should be respected and obtained.
This referendum may result as an insult for the LGBT opulation but in fact, it's not.
Even though, I'm not a person that specifies her own opinion on religious facts but I
agree with the Cardinal Josip Bozani and his statement : "If marriage is a union
between a woman and a man, then it is not the same as other types of unions. The
Church does not promote any kind of discrimination when it backs that definition of
marriage. On the contrary, we can say that the danger exists today of marriage itself
being discriminated against, by presenting it as something that it cannot be. The
Church wants to preserve marriage and wants the definition of it be clearly spelled
out, so that the institution of marriage and the institution of family are preserved for
future generations. The Church is therefore not against anyone, it is open for dialogue
with everyone, but wants to make it clear that some things can not be made equal. We
respect everyone's opinions, but we want the institution of marriage and family,

which is imperiled by societal developments today, to be guarded for the future of the
Croatian people and a good in all of us."
Surely, there will be more variations and petitions on this subject in the future and
maybe new generations will provide equalty to the LGBT unions.