Senate allows same-sex partnership amendment to be adopted using unusual move

The Czech Senate has allowed for the adoption of new rules for same-sex partnerships, which gives them most of the same rights as married couples, using an unusual but legal manoeuvre, whereby they voted to simply remove the item from the meeting agenda to avoid a lengthy debate. This automatically allows the one-month deadline for the upper parliamentary chamber to discuss laws, which in this case falls on Thursday 18 April, to expire, meaning the amendment will go straight to President Petr Pavel to be signed into law.

The unusual idea to strike the item from the agenda - the first time such a move has been used in the Senate's history - was suggested by Zdeňko Nytra, head of the ODS and TOP 09 parliamentary club. Nytra justified the proposal with regard to "what has happened recently" in discussions about the rights of same-sex couples, referring to the offensive language that was used by some MPs when the amendment was debated in the lower house.

The removal of the amendment from the program, which was motivated by the desire to avoid lengthy and potentially hurtful and offensive debates about LGBT people's rights, was supported by 47 of the 77 senators present. Those who voted against the proposal were mostly senators from the Christian Democrat party.