BRUSSELS — European nations do not have to allow same-sex marriage, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, though gay-rights groups claimed a partial victory Friday because the court acknowledged growing agreement that their relationships should be legally recognized.
Seven judges at the European court ruled unanimously that two Austrian men denied permission to wed were not covered by the guarantee of the right to marry in Europe’s human-rights convention.
The judges acknowledged “an emerging European consensus” that same-sex couples should have legal recognition. But they said individual states may still decide what form it should take because marriage has “deep-rooted social and cultural connotations which may differ largely from one society to another.”
Six EU states — Belgium, The Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Norway and Spain — have legalized same-sex marriage. About a dozen others, including Britain, Germany, France and — since January — Austria, have legal partnerships, which carry much the same status as marriage.
Horst Schalk and Johann Kopf sought a marriage permit in Vienna in 2002 but were turned down because Austrian law only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman.
