LGBT rights in Kosovo

LGBT rights in Kosovo
Kosovo
Same-sex sexual activity legal?	Legal since 1970, age of consent equalized in 1991
Gender identity/expression	Transsexual persons allowed to change legal gender
Military service	Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly
Discrimination protections	Sexual orientation protections (see below)
Family rights
Recognition of relationships	No recognition of same-sex couples
Adoption	No joint adoption by same-sex couples

Due to the political instability from the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, the status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Kosovo is presently unclear.

Law regarding same-sex sexual activity

Same-sex sexual activity became legal in Kosovo in 1970^{[citation needed]}. Since 1 January 1991^{[citation needed]}, Kosovo has an equal age of consent of 14 regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender and all sexual offences became gender-neutral.

Recognition of same-sex relationships

Kosovo's Constitution does not restrict its definition of marriage to the union between a man and a woman. Article 37 stipulates that anyone can enter into marriage based on free will.

Military service

See also: Sexual orientation and military service

LGBT persons are not banned from military service. However, serving openly in military can lead to discrimination.^{[citation needed]}

Discrimination protection

Article 24 of the Constitution of Kosovo bans discrimination on a number of grounds, including sexual orientation. Kosovo is thus one of the few states in Europe with a constitutional ban on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

The Anti-Discrimination Law of 2004, passed by the Kosovo Assembly, bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in a variety of fields, including employment, membership of organisations, education, the provision of goods and services, social security and access to housing. The definition of discrimination in this law explicitly includes direct and indirect discrimination, as well as harassment, victimisation and segregation.

Kosovo LGBT rights group the Center for Social Emancipation describes gay life in Kosovo as being "underground" though Gay clubs are very active. Www.gaykosovo.com is a website that was created just for Albanian gay community especially those living in Kosovo, Albania and Macedonia. This site also offers a gay guide of Pristina. Actually, there is no kind of gay rights based organisation working directly and properly in gay rights, as Kosovo is considered a safe place for LGBT community.

Blood, sperm and organ donation by gay and/or bisexual men became legal in December 2002. As of March 2006, Kosovo no longer classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder.

LGBT rights movement in Kosovo

See also: LGBT social movements

There was a LGBT rights organisations in Kosovo, with the most prominent being the Center for Social Emancipation (Albanian: Qendra për Emancipim Shoqëror). The organisation is mainly concerned with raising the visibility of the LGBT community and bringing about an extension of LGBT rights. QESh has been recently re-activated, announcing the celebration of May 17 (International Day Against Homophobia IDAHO) with support of government and international embassies.

Summary table

Homosexuality legal
Equal age of consent
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech)
Same-sex marriage(s)
Recognition of same-sex couples
Adoption by same-sex couples
Right to change legal gender
Access to IVF for lesbians
MSMs allowed to donate blood

See also

• Politics of Kosovo
• LGBT rights in Europe
• Age of consent in Europe

External links

• The rights of homosexuals in kosovo