The Central Party faction of the Riigikogu does not support the marriage equality bill, as the government has violated the practice of good law-making and inclusion and has not asked or received a mandate from the voters for such fundamental changes, said Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart, deputy chairperson of the legal committee.
“The government coalition has not learned from previous mistakes and continues to present a bunch of proposals that are not statesmanlike and in accordance with good state legal practice. In order to achieve a meaningful discussion, it is recommended to discuss the amendments to the law one by one, especially in the current case, where society is essentially divided in half regarding this issue,” said Kovalenko-Kõlvart, who said that the bill was brought to the parliament without the involvement of interest groups. “The parties were given only three days to formulate their position – this is an apparent involvement, and such an attitude is completely unacceptable and is not in accordance with the principles of the democratic rule of law.”
Kovalenko-Kõlvart pointed out that a critical attitude has been heard from several organizations. “For example, in order to promote the culture of inclusion, the Union of Children’s Protection asked to show greater respect towards those involved as well as to enable a wider discussion in society, and the Estonian Women’s Associations Roundtable noted that such changes in the law will not be made in a democratic society in a few weeks, because the use of force only divides society,” said Kovalenko-Kõlvart.
According to the MP elected from Tallinn, this is a law change that changes the foundations of society, which cannot be taken lightly. “We have the perspective of living in a society where the family is no longer a marriage between a man and a woman, but between two natural persons. A society is emerging where, when a child is born, the mother and the “second parent” are entered in the population register instead of the mother and the father,” Kovalenko-Kõlvart listed.
The faction of the Central Party is of the opinion that the draft implementing acts of the Marriage Equality and Cohabitation Act should not have been presented as a single proposal, therefore the faction proposes to separate them.