A Slovak married love of his life and became British. Then, Slovakia stripped him of his citizenship

Slovak gay man has sued the Slovak Interior Ministry due to discrimination.

By: sme.sk

Apr 25 2024
30
3808 Views

A Slovak married love of his l

At the end of the summer of 2022, the Slovak man Lukáš married the Briton Marko. Thanks to the marriage, Lukáš obtained British citizenship last year. But about a month ago, he received a decision that his Slovak citizenship was being revoked.

“I wanted to keep it,” Lukáš says. “If I were heterosexual and had married a woman from another country, I wouldn’t have lost my Slovak citizenship,” he emphasises, adding that he is filing a lawsuit against the Interior Ministry.

The Sme daily knows the full name of the respondent. At his request it’s not published to protect his safety.

Question of the dispute

Lukáš, 34, comes from central Slovakia. He’s been living with his partner for several years. They were married on August 28, 2022 in Great Britain. Same-sex marriage.

“Mark works in IT. We have a house, a cat, we travel a lot. We have a normal marriage, like everyone else,” says Lukáš.

Slovakia has not allowed dual citizenship since 2010. According to the law, there are only two options for obtaining it: either a person has spent at least five years of their life in a foreign country, or they acquire foreign citizenship during a marriage. Just like Lukáš. However, the Interior Ministry doesn’t recognise this exception in the case of same-sex spouses, even if these marriages are valid abroad.

“It’s known that Slovakia doesn’t recognise the marriages of same-sex couples, but in this case it is not about their general recognition. The question is why, in addition to not recognising these relationships, does Slovakia need to stigmatise these couples by stripping them of their citizenship, even if they live in legal marriages according to the laws of the countries that allow it. That is the question of this dispute,” Lukáš’s lawyer János Fiala-Butora says.