The Czech Chamber of Deputies approved an amendment granting same-sex couples partnership rights akin to marriage, barring child adoption unless one partner is a biological parent.
After months of sharp debate, a scaled-backed version of the bill made it through Wednesday’s vote.
“The existing registered partnership institution is not satisfactory,” one of the bill’s sponsors, Josef Bernard, said in the debate. “It should be expanded, on that there is agreement in the lower house.”
An opinion poll from the CVVM agency last year indicated that 58% of Czechs believed same-sex couples should have the right to marry, and even more said they should be allowed to adopt.
Under the revised bill, joint adoption will be possible only if one of the partners is a biological parent.
For children adopted by a same-sex partner, this would mean that they would have to go through the adoption process with the first parent, who would then receive full parental rights as an individual and then go through the same process again to be co-adopted by the parent’s partner.
