Luxembourg LGBTIQ+ Community Calls for Automatic Co-Parent Recognition

Luxembourg may have retained its top 10 ranking (7th) in the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Map and Index this year, but there is still room for improvement in terms of LGBTIQ+ rights.

Among the recommendations issued by ILGA-Europe to "improve the legal and policy situation" of LGBTIQ+ people in Luxembourg was that it allow automatic co-parent recognition for all couples. Currently, same-sex couples in Luxembourg still face barriers when it comes to being legally recognised as parents. For many, the only option is adoption; for example, if the baby is the biological child of one partner, the other would have to adopt that child to be legally recognised as the co-parent.

The non-profit organisation Rosa Lëtzebuerg has reiterated and highlighted its demand for automatic recognition for same-sex parents - and the reform of the law on adoption - in the context of Luxembourg Pride this July. The demand can be found in the organisation's catalogue of demands (available in English here), sent out to Luxembourg's political parties ahead of the October 2023 legislative elections.

Adoption law reform

Speaking to Chronicle.lu, Rosa Lëtzebuerg confirmed that the issue of automatic recognition was "a very current and important concern" for the organisation. "We regularly hear from our members, as well as the members of the Rainbow Families group within Rosa Lëtzebuerg, that the process of recognition is still very tedious and costly," the organisation said.

In response to a request for comment from Chronicle.lu about plans to change the legislation in future, Luxembourg's Ministry of Justice assured that the adoption process would be reformed, in line with the government coalition agreement. The relevant draft bill was formally submitted in late May 2023 (under the previous government). After the Council of State issued its advisory opinion on the draft bill at the end of June 2024, "legislative efforts can now be pursued".

The ministry specified that the draft bill "aims to reform the conditions governing both simple and plenary adoptions. Its provisions aim to broaden the eligibility criteria to adapt to contemporary societal configurations". "Specifically, the draft bill proposes to expand eligibility for adoption to include individuals in registered partnerships as well as cohabiting partners. Additionally, it aims to permit single individuals to pursue plenary adoption," the ministry continued. "These provisions collectively acknowledge and accommodate a broader spectrum of family structures, thereby enhancing the inclusivity and adaptability of the adoption process". The ministry assured there was "a firm commitment to ensure the timely enactment of this piece of legislation, that is an important step towards equal rights between all types of families".

Demand for automatic recognition

However, for many same-sex couples and LGBTIQ+ organisations, the proposed reform does not go far enough. Rosa Lëtzebuerg noted that the wording in the coalition agreement "suggests that only an adjustment of the adoption procedure is planned, which in our view does not fully meet the wishes of the community, especially the Rainbow Families. We demand automatic recognition that spares parents the need for adoption". "It's not just about simplified procedures but also about recognition per se," the organisation clarified, also recalling the right to start a family.

Chronicle.lu also recently spoke with one same-sex couple who find themselves in this situation. Together, Lauren and her wife Clair-Louise have three children, with the latter having given birth to their first child and the former later giving birth to their twins. After going through the fertility treatment process* together as a couple, with the embryos belonging to both of them, once the children were born, the only option they were given for legal recognition was to adopt each other's biological children - a process that can be lengthy and expensive, and which can only take place when the child is at least three months old.

The situation results in issues in the areas of parental leave and child protection / well-being, for example in terms of who can legally collect the children from school, if one parent was travelling alone with the children or even if one parent were to pass away. The couple in question added that the adoption process adds stress and financial strain on new parents. "Why would you put a same-sex couple in a financial situation which is going to destabilise the family structure? That's not protecting the child or the family or supporting same sex couples at all," they said.

The couple added that in sharing their four-year fight for legal recognition and pushing for change, they "hope to release the added pressure [...] on same-sex couples. We just want the same rights as heterosexual couples and not have to deal with the extra stress".

Other issues

In the context of family formation, Rosa Lëtzebuerg recalled that other challenges persist for prospective parents within Luxembourg's queer community: "On one hand, with PMA (medically assisted reproduction), we fortunately have the possibility for lesbian mothers to realise their family wish. On the other hand, male couples still do not have full access to family formation". The organisation noted that altruistic surrogacy would be one way to also allow male couples to start a family. Currently, surrogacy is not permitted in Luxembourg, so the only option is to go abroad - which poses its own challenges (in terms of costs but also moral and ethical conditions in certain countries).

Rosa Lëtzebuerg suggested government measures that "make it easier for gay intendent parents to choose these countries, for instance by adjusting the legal provisions for PMA so that at least the process of the IVF part in the context of surrogacy is covered by the CNS (National Health Fund) as it is already the case for heterosexual prospective parents in Luxembourg".

Rosa Lëtzebuerg also stressed that a constitutional problem arises "if a fundamental right such as the right to start a family, which has been included in the constitution since 1 July 2023, cannot be exercised by everyone. From this perspective, the government must find a regulation regarding PMA and (altruistic) GPA [surrogacy] quite soon."

* Another issue, beyond Luxembourg, is a lack of international regulations for sperm donation, as highlighted in a new Netflix docuseries. Whilst Lauren and Clair-Louise used that same sperm bank (Cryos), like other couples in Luxembourg, they were not impacted (different donor and regional quota). Nevertheless, the issue suggested the need for stricter regulations around sperm donation.