The vote by the Chamber of Members of the Czech Parliament on the law on single-sex matrimony ended in disappointment. It is hard to talk of surprise, since the current ruling coalition has long sought to transform a once-dwelling country of liberalism into a hellish pit of conservatism.
Failure could be expected, for example, due to the fact that Members tried to outrun each another in subsequent proposals of "compromise" - based seemingly on a unanimous opinion that the compromise between equality and inequality is inequality. The consolidation of the division into marriages and partnerships was so guaranteed in advance.
Our representatives constantly remind us that there is only 1 mode of institutionalization of relationships (no substitutes!). And if individual did not effort to give birth to the right ones, they should be punished with restrictions on rights. In this way, the scourge of diversity will be mastered, not corrupting our beautiful, heteronormative society, and above all, it will not violate our carefully cultivated privileges, which must absolutely not be shared with individuals of inferior kind.
Think of the children
Apart from idiotic ideology, the main subject of the dispute was the on-call hostages of all crucial political dispute: children. It would seem that among the incomprehensible shouts about the erosion of "traditional values" (this erosion is going far besides slowly!), individual could at least mention many years of research, from which we know that the sexual orientation of parents does not affect the quality of kid rearing. Nowhere – our representatives assumed that only consecutive couples can decently love their offspring.
The alleged compromise options differed mainly in how much freedom minorities freely granted erstwhile it came to adoption. The effects again failed expectations. In a single-sex relationship, you can only adopt... your own biological children. However, this is simply a novelty – and whether it will qualify for victory, it will depend on the ability to sail after treacherous waters of surrogacy. It is easy to guess that this phenomenon is Czech law completely ignores for now.
Little advancement has besides been made in the issue of inheritance, widow's pension and so on – things that are considered apparent in marriage. It's a tiny thing, a crumb thrown to people whose inferiority the rulings confirmed. It's hard to kiss them 1 hand at a time erstwhile they slap their cheeks the other.
Lobbyists attack
Looking for the origin of the fiasco, man finds the same suspects as always: ideology and politics. An ideological way to follow easily, due to the fact that in the present coalition it is swarming with conservative lobbyists of the worst sort.
Already in January, the Czech legislature refused to ratify the Istanbul Convention, the European Treaty against force against Women. Apparently, the Czechs love beating and raping women so much that they don't want to give it up. The convictions for sexual force will so stay ludicrously low and victims will not receive support. By the way, conservatives have spectacularly shown off ignorance about even the most basic concepts. The same ignorance, and frequently even the same alleged “arguments”, emerged in discussions about whether these horrible “non-heterosexuals” should have the right to rise children for their “endless purposes”.
Various interest groups are active in the debate. First of all, old friends specified as the Alliance of Aliance pro rodin (one of his leaders assists – a surprise – MP of the ruling party) and the organization Tradiční rodina (a mass maker of leaflets with photos of smiling children and threats that legalization of single-sex marriages will lead to the demolition of society). There was no shortage of fresh blood – for example, the initiative of Letter 77, led by a “normal carpenter from the village”, who does not even effort to pretend that he is not a stony Aleance pro rodin and has suspiciously easy access to high-ranked politicians. Of course, the aim was to make an impression of grassroots hatred of minorities.
But she's not bottom-up. Surveys show that about 60% of Czech society supports single-sex marriage. And yet for any reason we inactive choose the same composition of conservative, discriminatory, bloating dinosaurs. This leads us to the political side of the problem.
An Unholy Covenant
The composition of the current coalition is very different from that which originally introduced the issue of single-sex marriages into parliament. The ruling parties form a shapeless lump called SPOLU ("RAZEM"). They agree to economical policy (the 2 main points of the program are "to do good to the rich" and "to fuck the poor", but they are scattered and inconsistent (even within the same party) in matters as trivial as social values, human rights or – God forbid! – ethics.
This means that while respective MPs and MPs from parties specified as Pirates, TOP09 or STAN could effort to practice politics, if not progressive, at least liberal, they are dominated by a number of backward factions of the most powerful ODS coalition (Citizen Democratic Party), almost the full Christian Democratic organization (it is obvious, though inactive disappointing, due to the fact that there are tiny Christian initiatives supporting single-sex marriages) and opportunists who do not care.
The affected parts of the ODS and Chadeci played the case cleverly. They put the full repertoire of compromises to the vote (i.e. different degrees of discrimination), thus throwing the coalition a smooth bone of disagreement and hoping to disperse the votes on more liberal options. But it wouldn't have worked without the engagement of the opposition.
The problem with the results of the fresh elections is that erstwhile the dust came down, we saw a parliament without a single feature that would save his honor. The coalition was created by a conservative right, and the opposition... well, besides by a conservative right. In 2 flavors: fascist, racist band SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy, notabene managed as a full autocracy by a hateful immigrant) and the erstwhile ruling party, ANO. Thanks to the latter, the phenomenon of populism has settled in the Czech Republic, understood as accepting any idea, unless (a) it contradicts the plan of the leader, billionaire Andrej Babiš, to turn the state apparatus into a subsidiary of his company, and (b) has support in the polls.
Populist fickles
Under the leadership of the ANO, the first draft law on single-sex matrimony was introduced into parliament – that is why it reached the current phase in the legislative process. This is not so surprising, given that Czech public opinion does not disturb matrimony equality half as much as they would like to hear about " sex ideology".
However, ANO in preparation for the elections that she yet lost has undergone a strategical change. After a complete defeat in the management of the state during the pandemic, the organization had to shift from imagined successes to a cultural war to effort to take votes from anti-establishment parties. To this end, she has mapped the strategy and rhetoric of another popular Central European leader: Viktor Orbán. Let's just halt for a minute. Make it happen.
And of course the conservative representatives of the coalition managed to make the ANO's voices decide the destiny of single-sex marriages. Everyone voted for the most restrictive option. The current run goal of the ANO is to become known as the most anti-progress organization (anti-Western, anti-EU, anti-internationalist, anti-moral – concepts are utilized interchangeably), while at the same time not doing anything that would harm the position of the Czech Republic in the EU (Babyš besides deals with maximising the profits from the subsidised agricultural Union). In short, we witnessed the opposition working together with the least desirable elements of the coalition. And if the current polls say something about the future of the Czech Parliament, this is not the last time.
We should mention 1 more fact: whether we consider the sad destiny of the law on single-sex matrimony a triumph or a defeat, past does not end there. The proposal in its current form must inactive pass through the legislature – the same Senate, which decided that force against women completely does not bother the Czechs, and made a decision on the basis of its own ignorance and false information. There is so a non-zero chance that even a tiny concession to non-heterosexuals will be rejected as a manifestation of exuberant liberalism. due to the fact that equality is clearly the evil to fight on all front.
**
In English she translated Aleksandra Paszkowska.
