Austria Approves Civil Union Legislation

Austria's parliament approved a civil unions bill by a vote of 110 to 64 this week.

The bill, slated to become law Jan. 1., will give same-sex couples a series of rights enjoyed by their heterosexual counterparts, including access to a pension if one partner dies and alimony in the event of a split. It bans the adoption of children or artificial insemination.

"We are living in the 21st century and I'm very glad this step is being taken today," Justice Minister Claudia Bandion-Ortner said during parliamentary debate leading up to the vote.

Christian Hoegl, co-president of the Homosexual Initiative Vienna, Austria's oldest group of gays and lesbians, agreed.

"It's a relief, a big success and a reward for two decades of lobbying," Hoegl said.

Bizarre that it bans adoption or artificial insemination at the same time that it offers all the other rights and responsibilities of marriage that the state can provide. I know that equivalent federal legislation would be an unacceptable compromise to most LGBT advocates in the United States.