By: Domen Mezeg / Nova24tv
“The Constitutional Court, as we have it now, is a shame for the country. I guarantee the continued fight for the rights of children and families, especially in kindergartens and schools, so that they will not be taught how to change their gender and sexual orientation,” child rights activist Aleš Primc responds to the controversial decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia.
The Constitutional Court concluded that the decision on the inadmissibility of calling a referendum regarding amendments to the Family Code is not incompatible with the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. At the same time, the court also reminded that with two previous decisions it found that the law is inconsistent with the constitution, and the National Assembly should follow what the constitutional court found with the changes to the law. According to their point of view, it should be an exception when the referendum cannot be allowed. With last year’s amendments to the Family Code, the National Assembly equalised the rights of same-sex and heterosexual couples in the area of marriage and child adoption, reported STA.
The initiative for a legislative referendum was submitted to the National Assembly by the representatives of the Coalition It is about Children!, but the National Assembly adopted a decision on its inadmissibility. Aleš Primc and Metka Zevnik submitted a request for an assessment of the constitutionality of the decision to the Constitutional Court. However, the Constitutional Court decided that the referendum was inadmissible in this case because it was supposed to interfere with the area of human rights and fundamental freedoms. In doing so, they referred to Article 90 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia. The decision was taken with seven votes in favour and one against. Constitutional judge Rok Svetlič voted against, giving a disapproving separate opinion. Judge Marko Šorli gave an affirmative separate opinion. You can read Svetlič’s dissenting separate opinion here.
Primc spoke for our media: “It is an unconstitutional decision and a decision that goes against the fundamental rights of children. A child has the right to a mother and a father, and the state has no right to take away a child’s mother and father. We have an activist LGBTQ+ Constitutional Court. This is no Constitutional Court; this is a shame for the country.” As Primc emphasised, they will continue to fight for the rights of children and parents, mothers, and fathers. Their first concern and their first activities will be aimed at not teaching children in schools and kindergartens how gender and sexual orientation change. They will do everything in their power to prevent the intrusion of LGBTQ+ ideology into kindergartens and schools.
“This is not a Constitutional Court, but a party ideological commission”
“This is already happening in all countries that have adopted the legalisation of children in LGBTQ+ relationships. At the same time, we will train parents how they can prevent the adoption of their children into LGBTQ+ relationships. We will prepare forms on how they can do this,” Primc is determined. We are in a situation where we have to accept that we have “one shameful Constitutional Court”, and everything must be done to protect our children. For legal practice (in the past, a referendum was allowed in similar cases), this means that the Constitutional Court broke with its previous practice and made an unconstitutional decision.
At least two constitutional judges decided, who should not have decided (the brother of constitutional judge Rok Čeferin participated in the referendum campaign in a video clip, and even the current constitutional judge Katja Šugman Stubbs participated in the campaign with the video clip, so both of them should necessarily be eliminated in the concrete example). Primc does not feel confident in the aforementioned constitutional judges to make decisions in accordance with the Constitution. What they failed to achieve in the referendums, they have now achieved in the Constitutional Court as constitutional judges, which is inadmissible and an abuse of the law and the Constitutional Court, therefore this institution is a shame for Slovenia. “This is not a Constitutional Court, but a party ideological commission,” said Primc harshly.
“There is no surrender when it comes to children, we will fight on!”
After this decision of the Constitutional Court, there will no longer be a guarantee that any decision will stand. From now on, any composition of the Constitutional Court can “override” any decision of the Constitutional Court. There is no longer legal security and legal stability. From now on, the Constitutional Court can change any previously adopted decision. Primc is firmly convinced that the vast majority of Slovenian mothers and fathers (regardless of ideological or political orientation) do not want their children to be taught how to change gender and sexual orientation. He is also convinced that the majority of Slovenians do not want their children, for example in the event of a fatal accident, to be adopted into LGBTQ+ relationships and that their children then go to pride parades.
It has nothing to do with left or right political beliefs. “Parents know what is best for children and what is bad!” Primc is convinced. They plan to offer help to all mothers and fathers to resist abuse in kindergartens and schools. For example, the Peace Institute already conducts some surveys and workshops in schools. “When it comes to children, there is no surrender, we will fight on!” There are also positive practices in countries where such laws have already been enacted before us. Parents organise themselves and achieve great success. An exemplary example is Florida in the USA, where LGBTQ+ activists have already been kicked out of schools, at the same time state funding of their programs, etc., has been terminated. In the same way, the rebellion in Slovenia will follow. Primc is also considering studying legal remedies, going to the European Court of Justice…