Gay spouses ‘deserve EU residency rights’

MARRIED gay couples have the same rights of residency as heterosexual spouses under EU freedom of movement laws even if same sex marriage is banned in the country they move to, an EU legal adviser has said.

The legal opinion was issued after Clai Hamilton, an American, was denied residency in Romania with Adrian Coman, his Romanian husband, because gay marriage is illegal there. “We cannot be treated as inferior citizens without equal rights on the basis of the prejudices that some people have about homosexuality,” Mr Coman said.

EU citizens have the right to bring their spouses to live with them in a member country.

The couple, who met in New York in 2002 and are both 46, married in Belgium in 2010 after living together for four years in the US. In 2012, they asked for residency permits for Mr Hamilton to live and work permanently in Romania but were turned down as the nation does not recognise same sex marriage.

The couple, still in the US, challenged the ruling and Romanian judges referred the case to the European Court of Justice to clarify if EU law applied to same sex spouses. “We hope that the European judges will confirm that we have the right to live together in Romania as spouses,” said Mr Hamilton.