Gentvilas wants family referendum to take place and fail

Liberal MP Eugenijus Gentvilas says a proposed referendum on the definition of family should go ahead but fail, arguing that Parliament must instead implement the Constitutional Court’s ruling on same-sex partnerships. LRT reported his remarks in an interview with Vytautas Sinica on the programme Dienos tema.

President Gitanas Nausėda has called for an advisory referendum on the definition of family and said he would support a proposed constitutional amendment stating: “Family legal relations arise only from the marriage of a man and a woman, motherhood and fatherhood.”

Sinica, who initiated the proposal, said its supporters wanted voters to have a say. He said the Constitutional Court ruled in spring 2025 that the Constitution requires Lithuania to legalise same-sex partnerships, while public opinion polls had consistently shown that about two-thirds of people oppose them.

Sinica said the proposed wording would still recognise a single mother or father raising children as a family. He argued that changing the Constitution was the only way to address the court’s interpretation while asking the public for its view.

Gentvilas said the Constitutional Court’s decision, issued about a year and a half ago, must be followed. He said it recognised that a family can arise from a partnership between two people, not only from marriage between a man and a woman, and that Parliament should legalise same-sex partnerships.

Gentvilas said the referendum proposal could help the governing majority delay implementing the ruling by arguing that it should wait for the vote. He said he opposed the referendum along with the Liberal Movement.