Support The Moscow Times!

Russia Accidentally Recognizes Gay Marriage, Couple Says

Pavel Stotsko and Yevgeny Voytsekhovsky Pavel Stotsko / Facebook

Russia has recognized a same-sex marriage for the first time in what may be a legal loophole that was uncovered by a couple in Moscow.

Russia does not register same-sex marriages, however Russian family law recognizes marriages that were registered abroad if they do not “contradict article 14 of the Family Code.” That article bars marriages between close relatives and people who have already been registered as married but does not mention marriages between people of the same sex.

Pavel Stotsko and Yevgeny Voytsekhovsky tied the knot in Copenhagen, where gay marriage is legal, earlier this month, before asking Russian officials to recognize their marriage certificate, the couple told the opposition-leaning Dozhd TV news channel.

A Moscow civil service staffer stamped their marital status page in their passport as married “without additional questions, or any change in his facial expression,” the couple told Dozhd TV on Thursday.

Moscow’s service center later denied registering the marriage.

“Employees of state service centers don’t stamp passports. Therefore, the information indicated in the news is false,” it said in an online statement later that day.

Dozhd TV cited Russian deputies as saying that the gay marriage loophole should be closed legislatively.

“There should be and could be no loopholes in the law,” the TV broadcaster cited Leonid Slutsky, head of the State Duma’s committee on international relations, as saying.

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more