Czech homosexuals want civil code to allow their child adoption

Prague, Nov 11 (CTK) - Czech activists for sexual minorities' human rights protest against the new civil code as it does not deal with registered partnership and child adoption by same-sex couples, representatives of the Platform for Equality, Recognition and Diversity (PROUD) said Friday.

Registered partnership is regulated by an independent law.

On November 9, the Czech Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, passed a new civil code that is to take effect as from 2014.

The code containing over 3000 articles adjusts the rules for three fundamental spheres: the family, ownership and agreements.

It is yet to be approved by the upper house, the Senate, and then signed by President Vaclav Klaus.

It is to replace the present code that comes from 1964 and that has been amended 40 times since the fall of the communist regime in late 1989.

According to its authors, the new code changes former communist rules.

The homosexual activists are against the clause that orders sterilisation if sex is changed and ending of the existing marriage, arguing that this is at variance with the recommendation of the human rights commission of the Council of Europe.

Same-sex partners still cannot apply for child adoption or a joint foster care, PROUD representatives said.

Besides, registered couples are not given the right to joint property, they said.

Even if same-sex couples adopt a child abroad, this will not be officially recognised, they added in their complaint.

"If they arrive to the Czech Republic and decide to live here, the family will be in a legal vacuum because under Czech law, the child will be without parents," the activists warned.

PROUD activists said the new civil code also discriminated against transsexuals who have to undergo sterilisation if they officially change their sex.

They said if someone changes his sex from woman to a man, it should be still possible for him to keep his female reproductive organs.