Albania plans to allow gay marriage
TIRANA, Albania - Albania’s homosexuals won more than they had hoped for after the government said it planned to allow same-sex marriages despite opposition from religious leaders and politicians.
The proposal put forward by Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Thursday faces a tough fight in Parliament.
But should he make good on his plans, Albania would join European Union members the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain in giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples and would be the first country in the Balkans to do so.
“This is not only a step to be taken for European integration, but primarily for the emancipation of the Albanian society,’’ the Alliance Against Discrimination Against Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgenders said yesterday.
“We are proud that our country is joining so many others in embracing equality and rejecting discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people,’’ it added.
As candidates for EU membership, all Balkan nations will have to pass laws protecting sexual minorities from discrimination as part of the accession process, but not necessarily approve gay marriages.
Almost two decades after communism fell, Albanian homosexuals still keep their sex lives secret to shield themselves from the opprobrium of that nation’s society.
Leaders of Albania’s Muslim majority and Christian Orthodox and Catholic communities condemned same-sex marriage as a sin, and some opposition politicians accused Berisha of using the issue to draw attention away from their allegations that a June election was rigged.
Sabri Godo, a Berisha ally and one of the Balkan nation’s elder statesmen, said he thought Albania should not have taken such a giant leap ahead of other European Union countries.
