Group of lawmakers proposes advisory referendum on family definition alongside local elections

A group of lawmakers from across the political spectrum has proposed holding an advisory referendum on the definition of family alongside next year’s local elections in Lithuania.

The initiative, registered in parliament on Tuesday, seeks to ask voters whether they agree that the Constitution should explicitly state that legal family relationships arise only from marriage between a man and a woman, motherhood, and fatherhood. More than 60 lawmakers from multiple factions support the proposal, with only representatives of the Liberal Movement declining to join.

Under current provisions in Article 38 of the Constitution, the state protects and supports the family, motherhood, fatherhood, and childhood, and marriage is defined as a free agreement between a man and a woman. Ligita Girskienė, a lawmaker from the ruling Farmers and Greens Union, argued at a press conference that courts should interpret rather than rewrite the Constitution.

“No court, including the Constitutional Court, should unilaterally define what constitutes a family, because this concept stems from the will of the people as enshrined in the Constitution,” she said. “The role of the courts is to interpret and apply the Constitution, not to create new norms or rewrite concepts already defined within it.”

To submit a referendum proposal, a group of at least one-quarter of all lawmakers is required. Parliament must then approve the proposal. An advisory referendum is considered valid if more than half of eligible voters participate.

In April 2025, the Constitutional Court ruled that parliament had violated the Constitution by failing for 24 years to adopt a separate law regulating partnerships in greater detail, as required by the Civil Code, to allow provisions on cohabitation without registered marriage to take effect. The court also found that partnerships should include both same-sex and different-sex couples.

Source: LRT, BNS